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PRESENTED BY 



Esse Quam Videri. 



FIVE POINTS 



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Record of North Carolina 



GREAT WAR OF 1861-5. 




REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE 



APPOINTED BY THE 



North Carol ir\a Literary arjd Historical 
Society--1904. 



NASH BROTHERS, 

BOOK AND COMMERCIAL PRINTERS, 

(iOLUhBORO, N. C. 

VJOi. 






INDEX. 

PAGE 

1. Report of Committee 5 

2. " First at Bethel," by Major E. J. Hale 15 

3. "Farthest at Gettysburg," by Judge W. A. Montgomery 31 

4. " Longstreet's Assault at Gettysburg," hy Lieut. W. R. Bond, 

A. D. G 35 

5. " Farthest at Chickamauga," by Judge A. C. Avery 47 

6. " Last at Appomattox," by Hon. H. A. London 59 

7. "The Last Capture of Guns," by E. J. Holt, 1st Lieut. 75 N. 

a, {7 Cav.) 71 

8. "Number of Troops furnished by North Carolina and number 

of killed and wounded," by Capt. S. A. Ashe 73 

MAPS. 

Bethel 20 

Gettysburg 24, 29, 35 

Appomattox . ; 59, 70 



This pamphlet is printed and issued by the North Carolina 
Historical Commission. 



The Society 



24Ja'05 



PREFACE. 



At a meeting of the State Literary and Historical Associa- 
tion held in Kaleigh, Nov. 12th, 1903, the following resolu- 
tion offered by Colonel J. Bryan Grimes was adopted: 

Resolved, That the ISTorth Carolina Literary and Historical 
Association ask the following gentlemen, Chief Justice Walter 
Clark, Chairman, Capt. S. A. Ashe, Senator H. A. London, 
Hon. A. C. Avery, Hon. W. A. Montgomery, Major E. J. 
Hale and Capt. W. R. Bond, to act as a Committee to investi- 
gate and report upon the accuracy of l^orth Carolina's claim 
as to the number of troops furnished by this State to the Con- 
federacy, and upon the merits of our claim as to "First at 
Bethel, Farthest at Gettysburg and Chickamauga, Last at Ap- 
pomattox." 

Upon the resolution Colonel Grimes, submitted remarks, 
in substance, as follows : 

"IsTot many weeks ago at a meeting of the Grand Camp of 
the Virginia Confederate Veterans, Judge George L. Chris- 
tian surprised the country by questioning the claims made by 
ISTorth Carolina as to her record in the War for Southern In- 
dependence. These assertions of Judge Christian, occupying 
the position he does, gives his charge such prominence and his 
article has been given such currency that it should not be 
allowed to pass unnoticed. 

We feel it our duty to our State to refute this disparage- 
ment by Judge Christian and it is peculiarly appropriate that 
this Association should take up this challenge and I wish to 
offer a resolution to that end. 

I do not intend to reflect upon Virginia, and I would not 
have this resolution construed in that way, but I^orth Carolina 
has suffered enough in the past by being denied credit for 
her achievements. Our State has always acted the part of a 
loving sister to Virginia. In her early Colonial wars it was 
the I^orth Carolina soldier, who, without reward or hope of 
reward, assisted in driving the French and Indians from the 
Virginia border. 

In the earliest days of the Revolution the ISTorth Carolina 



4 

soldier hurried to Great Bridge to stand between the British 
invader and the heart of Virginia. 

In the great Civil War the first soldier sacrificed in defense 
of Virginia homes was the Carolinian Wyatt and in that long 
and bloody struggle for every one soldier life that Virginia 
gave to protect herself, more than two North Carolina soldiers 
were buried in her soil. 

Whenever Virginia has suffered l^orth Carolina has bled. 
We would disdain to pluck one laurel from Virginia's brow — 
we love her still — but we say calmly to our beloved sister 
that she must pause and give us justice. We are worthy of 
our appropriate motto Esse quam videri, and we are ready to 
prove our claim." 



Var Record qf the ConniTTEE. 



Walter Clark — 2nd Lieut, and Drill Master SS N. C. {Pettigrew's) Regt.; 

1st Lieut, and Adjutant 36 N. C. {M. W. Ransom''s) Regt; 

Major 6th N. C. Batt.; Lieutenant- Colonel and- Major 70 N. C. 

Regiment. Paroled at Johnston's sui:render. 
E. J. HA.LE — Private Co. H., ^'BetheV^ Regt.; 1st Lieut, and Adjutant 56 

N. C. Regt.; Capt. and Major A. A. G., Lane's Brigade. 

Paroled at i^ppomattox. 
W. A. Montgomery— Pnw/f, Sergeant and 2nd Lietit. Co. R, 12 N. C. 

Regiment. Paroled at Appomattox. 
W. R. BosD— Private 12 N. C. Regt.; 2nd Lieut. Co. D., 43 N. G. Regt.; 1st 

Lieut, and A. D. C. to Oen. Daniel. Captured at Gettysburg. 

Prisoner at Johnson's Island. 
A. C. Avery — 1st Lieut, and Capt. Co. E., 6 N. C. Regt; Capt. and A. A. 

L G., D. H. Hill's Corps; Major 17 N. C. Batt. Captured 

by Stoneman, April, 1865. 
H. A. London — Private Co. 1, 32 N. C. Regt., and courier to Gen. Grimes, 

Paroled at Appomattox. 
S. A. Ashe — Private 18 N. C. Regt.; Capt. and A. A.Q., Pender's Brigade; 

1st Lieut. C. S. Engineers. Paroled at Johnston's surrender. 



THE REPORT OF THE COnniTTEE. 



Upon the monument which this State has erected at the 
west front of the Capitol in Raleigh in perpetual memory of 
the fidelity to duty of the sons she sent to the front in 1861-5, 
is inscribed the legend 

"First at Bethel, 
Last at Appomattox/'' 

Upon the cover of the five volumes of "ISTorth Carolina Reg- 
imental Histories 1861-'65" which, compiled by veterans who 
were actual participants in the events they narrated, have 
been published and issued by authority of the State, there 
is stamped the above words with the insertion between the 
first and last lines of the following: 

"Farthest to the Front at Gettysburg and at 

Chickamauga." 

These claims were not made as a matter of boast. They 
were merely a statement of historical facts, amply supported 
by the testimony of eye-witnesses and documentary evidence 
contained in the volumes in question. There was no inten- 
tion to assert that the soldiers from ITorth Carolina were 
braver than those from our sister Southern States, but merely 
that the fortune of war having furnished them the occasion 
they were equal to the opportunity — only this, and nothing 
more. 

"They saw their duty, a dead sure thing 
And went for it, then and thar." 

We also deemed that it was shown beyond question that 
ISTorth Carolina furnished to the Confederacy more troops 
than any other State. It can not be controverted that, owing 
to the foresight, practical ability and patriotism of our great 
War Governor, Zebulon B. Vance, the troops from this State 
were the best clothed and shod, and the best cared for in the 
Confederacy. 

The above propositions, save the last, having been contro- 
verted by Judge Christian of Virginia in a pamphlet issued by 
authoritv of the United Confederate Veterans of that State , 



6 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

the undersigned Committee were appointed by the ITorth 
Carolina Historical and Literary Society to make reply. 
The committee met 12 May, 1904, being the 4:0th anni- 
versary of a day which is forever memorable in North 
Carolina from the valor of her sons at the deadly "Horse- 
Shoe" at Spottsylvania. With a view of placing our reply 
upon the testimony of eye-witnesses the work was sub-divided 
and allotted as follows : 

"First at Bethel," Major E. J. Hale. 

"Farthest to the front at Gettysburg" Judge W. A. Mont- 
gomery and Capt. W. R. Bond. 

"Farthest to the front at Chichamauga," Judge A. C. 
Avery. 

"Last at Appomattox/' Senator Henry A. London. 

''Number of Troops furnished by North Carolina and the 
number of killed and wounded" Capt. 8. A. Ashe. 

These articles were ready by 25 August, 1904, another glo- 
rious anniversary to North Carolina Veterans, recalling the 
successful charge of Cooke's, Lane's and MacRae's brigades 
at Reams Station 25 August, 1864, which might well be 
styled a "North Carolina Victory." After being carefully 
reviewed and corrected, these six articles have been unani- 
mously adopted by the Committee as a true and modest state- 
ment of the matters therein severally treated, and they are 
herewith published as part of this report. 

BETHEL. 

Major Hale, who was at Bethel — and indeed, continually 
in service throughout the war and saw its close at Appomattox 
— tells convincingly the story of the first battle of the War. 
North Carolina can well claim to have been "First at Bethel," 
for this first victory for our arms was won by her sons. Not 
that she had the only troops there. Such has never been her 
claim, but more than two thirds of the soldiers present — 
over 800 out of the 1200 — were hers and without them the 
battle would not have been fought. The moral prestige of 
this first success was very great, and this State justly claims 
credit for her promptness in placing her troops upon Virginia 
soil and repulsing the first advance of the enemy. The first 



The Report of the Committee. 7 

soldier killed in battle was Henry L. Wyatt of the "Edgecombe 
Guards/' Co. "A/' 1st N. C. Volunteers (later designated 
by a special Act of the General Assembly "The Bethel Regi- 
ment") who fell at Bethel 10 June, 1861. There is no claim 
that he was any braver than hundreds and thousands who fell 
ere the red curtain of war was rung down, but his death shows 
that at the first onset the men of this State were ready unto 
death. Neither is it denied that Capt. Marr, of Virginia, was 
killed a few days before at Warrenton, Virginia, but that was 
not in battle. Wyatt was the first to fall in open fight, when 
troops met for the first time in battle array. 

gettysbukg. 

That the soldiers of this State went somewhat farther at 
Gettysburg than any others in the third day's battle is so 
succinctly and clearly shown by Judge Montgomery and Capt. 
W. R. Bond in the articles by them that it is not necessary to 
recapitulate. The controverted point assigned us was only 
as to that charge, else we could have referred to the undis- 
puted fact that on the evening of the second day Hoke's Bri- 
gade commanded by Col. Isaac E. Avery (who lost his life 
in the assault), together with Louisianians from Hays' Bri- 
gade, climbed Cemetery Heights, being further than any 
other troops penetrated during the three days. The following 
inscriptions placed by the Federal Park Commissioners upon 
tablets locating the position and stating the services of Hoke's 
brigade on the second day and Pettigrew's on the third day 
amply vindicate the justice of our claim. (The tablets also 
record their glorious services upon the other two days which 
are omitted here). 

"Hohes Brigade. 

2 July. Skirmished all day and at 8 P. M. with Hays's 
brigade charged East Cemetery Hill. Severely enfiladed on 
the left by artillery and musketry it pushed over the infantry 
line in front, scaled the Hill, planted its colors on the lunettes 
and captured several guns. But assailed by fresh forces and 
having no supports it was soon compelled to relinqui ^!i what 
it had gained and withdrew. Its commander. Col. Isaac E. 
Avery was mortally wounded leading the charge." 



8 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

"Pettigrew's Brigade. 

July 3. In Longstreet's assault this brigade occupied 
the right centre of the division and the course of the charge 
brought it in front of the high stone wall north of the Angle 
and 80 yards further East. It advanced very nearly to 
that v^all. A few reached it but were captured. The skele- 
ton regiments retired led by Lieutenants and the brigade by a 
Major, the only field officer left." 

Judge Montgomery and Captain W. R. Bond were both 
present at Gettysburg and the former has recently revisited 
the battle-field. Their array of proof as to the jSTorth Carolina 
Troops is further sustained by the map of the battle-field 
made by the Federal Commissioners, after years of study of 
the ground and hearing the evidence of participants from 
both armies and all parts of the country. A copy of that 
map is published with their articles. Two other maps herein 
throw further light upon that historic field. 

Without trenching on the ground covered by Judge Mout- 
gomery and Capt. Bond and merely as testimony of what 
troops went where the red rain of battle fell heaviest, it may be 
well to recall the following facts from the official reports : At 
Gettysburg 2,592 Confederates were killed and 12,707 wound- 
ed. Of the killed 770 were from l^orth Carolina, 435 were 
Georgians, 399 Virginians, 258 Mississippians, 217 South 
Carolinians and 204 Alabamians. The three brigades that lost 
most men were Pettigrew's N. C. (190 killed) ; Davis's. Miss. 
(180 killed) which had in it one N". C. Regiment, and Daniel's 
N". C. (165 killed). Pickett's entire division had 214 killed. 
ISTo brigade in Pickett's division lost as many killed and 
wounded as the 26 [N'orth Carolina regiment, whose loss 
was 86 killed and 502 wounded, the heaviest loss of any regi- 
ment, on either side, in any battle during the war. In the 
first day's fight there were 16 Confederate brigades of which 
7 were from North Carolina. In Longstreet's Assault, 
which has been miscalled by some '"'Pickett's charge", there 
were 19 Virginia and 15 ISTorth Carolina regiments besides 
troops from other States. 

CHICKAMArGA. 

Judge A. C. Avery, who was a participant in the battle 



The Report of the Committee. 9 

of Chickamauga, has lately revisited that battlefield with a 
view to writing his very graphic article which will have a 
peculiar interest because the deeds of Xorth Carolina soldiers 
in the Army of the West are less widely kno-wn among us than 
the daring of the veterans in the Army of N^orthern Virginia 
in which the greater part of troops from this State served. 
Judge Avery clearly shows that the 39, 58 and 60 Is^. C, 
the one on the first day and the others on the second day, 
achieved the farthest advance attained by our troops. This 
conclusion is further sustained by the locations marked 
on the map by the Federal Commissioners, as having been 
attained by the dift'erent troops. The map of Chick amauga 
accompanying Judge Avery's article was made under his sup- 
ervision after revisiting the field. Judge Avery states that 
while these locations have been marked on the ground by 
tablets erected not only by the I^^orthern States, but by South 
Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Missouri and other 
Southern States, the highest point, that reached by the ISTorth 
Carolinians, is marked only by a wooden board nailed to a 
telegraph pole ! Moved by this pathetic statement, the com- 
mittee adopted the Eesolution which will be found below. 

APPOMATTOX. 

Senator Henry A. London, who carried the last order 
at Appomattox, tells tersely and clearly what he saw and 
heard and is fully sustained by the statements which he 
quotes of Major-General Bryan Grimes and Brigadier Gen- 
eral Cox who were in command of the troops who fired the last 
volley. Two other members of the Committee, Major Hale and 
Judge Montgomery, were also at Appomattox. The positions 
held by the troops under Major Gen. Grimes, who were in the 
front of the army and by whom necessarily the last volley 
was fired, (the other part of the army under Longstreet, which 
faced Grant, in our rear, was not engaged) is shown on the 
map accompanying London's article herein. The groimd was 
visited 1 Oct., 1904, by a special committee consisting of Hon. 
H. A. London, Judge W. A. Montgomery, Capt. W. T. Jen- 
kins and Mayor A. M. Powell, veterans of that field and they 
were accompanied by W. J. Peele, Esq., Chairman of the 
State Historical Commission to whose patriotism and intelli- 



10 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

gent aid your Committee and the Confederate Veterans are 
greatly indebted. The localities were identified and measure- 
ments taken from which the excellent map of Appomattox 
accompanying their report was prepared for which thanks are 
due to Prof. W. C. Riddick of the A. & M. College. 

The article of Hon. E. J. Holt who commanded the 75 E". 
C. Regiment (Yth Cav.) at Apj^omattox shows that the cav- 
alry made their last charge very nearly as late as the time 
Cox's infantry fired the last volley and that shortly before a 
battery of 4 guns and 50 prisoners were captured by Roberts' 
N. C. Cavalry brigade (to which that regiment belonged) 
being the very last capture made by that immortal army which 
had made so many. 

^ NUMBER of troops AND LOSSES. 

Capt. S. A. Ashe sustains, from a careful examination and 
collection of the records, that Xorth Carolina furnished by 
much the largest number of troops of any State to the Con- 
federacy. Lieut. -General Stephen D. Lee (Commander in 
Chief of the United Confederate Veterans) in a very recent 
address at Asheville stated that "North Carolina furnished 
22,942 more troops than any other State." If this were not 
so, it redounds even more to the fame of the State, for North 
Carolina lost according to the official returns — as compiled in 
Colonel Fox's "Regimental Losses" — over 41,000 killed and 
wouuded and died of disease according to "U. S. Official Rec- 
ords" while the Confederate Hand-book gives : Virginia, 5,328 
killed, 2,519 died of wounds, 6,947 died of disease, total 14,- 
794. North Carolina, 14,452 killed, 5,151 died of wounds, 
20,602 died of disease, total 40,305 a number considerably in 
excess of that sustained by any other Southern State. 

Owing to her innate modesty North Carolina, notwithstand- 
ing she furnished nearly one-fifth of the Troops of the Con- 
federacy, fell far short of one-fifth of the 608 generals appoint- 
ed during those four memorable years. Instead of 120, our 
proportion according to troops furnished, we had 2 Lieut. 
Generals, 7 Major Generals and 26 Brigadiers, a total of 35 
generals, of whom nine were killed in battle and several others 
were invalided by reason of wounds. Yet we were not lack- 
ing in material. LTpon the death of Major General Pender, 



The Report op the Committee, 11 

a superb soldier, General Lee publicly deplored that "General 
Pender had never received his proper ranlv," and in the opin- 
ion of the whole army, the hero of Plymouth, that splendid 
soldier, Robert F. Hoke, who was a Major General at 26, 
merited the command of an Army Corps ; and there were many 
others who deserved the rank of Major General and Brigadier 
General which was given to men, certainly not their superiors, / 
from states with a smaller proportion of troops to general 
officers. 

But it is not to her generals and lesser officers, capable and 
faithful as they were, that North Carolina should turn with 
her greatest pride. With tacit recognition of this truth, the 
State has appropriately crowned the Monument raised to her 
gallant dead with the statute of 

A PRIVATE soldier, 

with belted cartridge box, and his faithful musket in hand, 
on guard, scanning the horizon, as in life, with ceaseless watch- 
ing for the foe. General A. P. Hill, of Virginia, when asked 
what troops he preferred to command, replied "Unquestion- 
ably North Carolinians — not that they are braver where all 
are brave, but brave as the bravest, they are the most obedient 
to command." It was this marked trait which gave the troops 
from this State their pre-eminence. It was the same quality 
which gave to the Roman soldier his fame and to Rome the 
empire of the world. History shows no soldier since who more 
nearly resembles the legionaries of Csesar than the North 
Carolina Confederate private. He displayed, together with 
the same intrepidity, the same uncomplaining endurance of 
hardship and hunger, the same unquestioning obedience to 
orders, and wherever the bravest officer dared to lead, there 
the private soldier from the plains, the valleys and the moun- 
tains of North Carolina swept on in his long unbroken lines. 
They but did as they were told to do and blushed to find 
it fame. Thus it was that at Gettysburg and at Chicka- 
mauga, on the utmost verge of the storm swept sea of battle it 
was the bodies of North Carolina's slain that marked where 
highest up the bloody wave had reached and grappled with 
the hostile shore. Thus it was that, at Bethel, Wyatt fell in 
the moment of our first victory, and at Appomattox the North 



12 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

Carolina line, sullenly retiring, fired the last volley over the 
grave of the Confederacy. 

But it is not only for his services during those four mem- 
orable and eventful years, that the Confederate soldier should 
be remembered. His services to his State did not end with the 
surrender. Other soldiery, demoralized by a long war, have 
too often returned to their homes to become a standing menace 
to lawful authority. The disbanded Confederate soldiers at 
once resumed their places as citizens. Unseduced by the 
offers and blandishments of those who would have plundered 
the public, with nerves unshaken by defeat, they took their 
stand for law and order, and for good government and self 
government. To them for the past forty years ISTorth Caro- 
lina, more than to any other source, is indebted for the peace 
and order which has enabled the State to rebuild its waste 
places and emerge from the disasters of a long war. In war 
and in peace, they have stood by their State, faithful alike in 
good and evil times, and Korth Carolina owes no greater debt 
than to the unshaken fidelity of him whose highest honor is 
that he was a N'orth Carolina Confederate Private Soldier. 

One of the most gallant leaders of the splendid soldiery 
North Carolina sent to the field, Colonel R. T. Bennett of the 
14 N. C. Regiment writes: 

"We did not make this claim boastingly. The subject is 
far too near our hearts for vainglory. We thought the recital 
of these great events in which our people shared so fully and to 
which they gave free oblations of blood not amiss if perchance 
the glow of enthusiasm lingered over them. We believed our 
statements suppoi-ted by indubitable evidence, chiefest the tes- 
timony of the faithful who traversed these fields and marked 
with 'their corpses the sad story of the death and sacrifice of 
our hopes. We disdain to extol our soldiers as excelling in 
valor the men of Virginia or surpassing in the grandeur of 
their sacrifice and towardliness these Knights of Chivalry. 

The trophies erected to those who sprung to immortal re-- 
nown from the scene of great actions are not inscribed with 
poverty of praise — such is not the hymn of the ages. 

Our citizens crowding to the front, and carving fame ere 
the South bled to pallor, conquered the highest elegy ever 
moulded by the lips of man. Upon these fields where we have 
staked out our claims in the "death gulch", the Lottery of 



The Report of the Committee. 13 

Battle favored our soldiers and they writ the story God has 
in his keeping." 



Moved by the above recited statement of the neglect to 
mark on the battle field of Chickamauga the position so proud- 
ly and hardly won by North Carolina troops, the following 
resolution was unanimously adopted by the Committee. 

On motion of Walter Clark : 

"Resolved, That Maj. E. J. Hale, Judge W. A. Mont- 
gomery, Judge A. C. Avery and Capt. S. A. Ashe are hereby 
appointed a Committee who shall prepare a bill and lay it be- 
fore the next General Assembly with request that it shall 
adopt the same, which bill shall provide for the placing of 
enduring but inexpensive tablets, under the direction of the 
Federal Park Commissioners at Gettysburg, Sharpsburg and 
Chicamauga, to preserve the location of the l^orth Carolina 
troops at the critical moments on those historic battlefields, 
and also to mark where Wyatt fell in the moment of the first 
victory at Bethel and the spot where the last Confederate 
volley rang out the falling cause at Appomattox." 



As above stated we assert no supremacy in valor for North 
Carolina troops. It was their fortune to be to the front at the 
first victory and at the closing scene, and to ride on the crest at 
the critical moment of the two great critical battles East and 
West. On these occasions, as on all others they knew how to 
do their duty. Those deeds deserve commemoration, though 
those who earned this great fame sought only duty's iron crown 
and but to do the work that lay before them. With them, as 
with the sons of this State in every great struggle, the motive 
has been duty, not display, or as this characteristic of our 
people has been tersely summed up in the motto of our State, 
"Esse quam videri." 

With these articles and this review and endorsement of 
their truthfulness by the entire committee, our last duty to our 
comrades is done. Generation after generation of men shall 
pass by and the greatest events shall lose their importance 
as empires shall fall and the world shall change its masters 
in never ending succession. What has been is that which 



14 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

shall be. But while the world stands man shall not cease 
to honor the memory of those who knew how to die for coun- 
try so long as humanity can furnish men willing and worthy 
to follow their example. 

Walter Claek^ Chairman, 
Edward J. Hale^ 
Walter A. Montgomery^ 
William R. Bond^ 
Alfonso C. AverY;, 
Henry A. London^ 
Samuel A. Ashe^ 

Committee. 
Raleigh, N. C. 

18 October, 1904. 



"FIRST AT BETHEL." 



By MAJ. E. J. HALE. 



The legend "First at Bethel" first took form in the in- 
scription on the Confederate Monument at Raleigh. It ex- 
pressed the prevailing sentiment in jN^orth Carolina, and, so 
far as I am aware, in the Confederacy. An illustration of 
this sentiment immediately after the battle will be found in 
the comments of leading Virginia papers. 

Said the Petersburg Express (see page 104, Vol. 1, IsT. C. 
Regiments 1861-65) : 

"All hail to the brave sons of the Old North State, whom 
Providence seems to have thrust forward in the first pitched 
battle on Virginia soil in behalf of Southern rights and inde- 
pendence." 

Said the Richmond Examiner, the leading paper of Vir- 
ginia and of the Confederacy (Ibid.) : 

"Honor those to whom honor is due. All our troops appear 
to have behaved nobly at Bethel, but the honors of the day 
are clearly due to the splendid regiment of l^orth Carolina, 
whose charge of bayonets decided it." 

1. The First North Carolina Regiment, commanded by 
Colonel D. H. Hill (later lieutenant-general), was not only 
the first regiment sent by the government to Yorktown to 
reach there (May 24th — see pages 80-81, Vol. 1, K C. Regi- 
ments, 18 61-65), but it was the first regiment to arrive at 
Bethel (June 6th) and the only Confederate regiment there 
until after the close of the battle. (See reports of Col. Ma- 
gruder and Col. Hill, pages 91-97, Vol. II, Series 1, Ofiicial 
Records of the War.) 

2. It constructed the enclosed work, or fortified camp, 
(Hill's report, page 93, Ibid.), which gave protection to most 
of the troops engaged, by means of which our losses were ren- 
dered nominal (Randolph's report, page 101, Ibid.) and with- 
out which the enemy probably could not have been defeated. 
Col. Hill, in his report (page 95, Ibid.) speaking of the crisis 
of the battle, said : "Captain Bridgers * * * drove the 
Zouaves out of the advanced howitzer battery [which had been 



16 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

abandoned by the troops stationed there, under orders] and 
re-occupied it. It is impossible to over-estimate this service. 
It decided the action in our favor." Col. Magruder, in his 
report, (page 92, Ibid.) described the re-capture of the bat- 
tery by Captain Bridgers as having been made "at a critical 
period of the fight." The other critical event in the battle 
was the assault led by Major Winthrop, General Butler's 
Aide-de-Camp. He was killed and his troops (1st Vermont 
and 4th Massachusetts, 600 men) defeated by Companies B, 
C, G, and H, of the North Carolina regiment. Of this fight 
Col. Hill said (page 95, Ibid.) : "It completely discouraged 
the enemy, and he made no further effort a^t assault." 

3. In the first hasty report which Col. Magruder sent, from 
the battlefield, to the Secretary of War, (page 91, Ibid.), he 
said, referring to the numbers engaged on both sides : "Ours 
about 1,200 engaged ; 1,100 in all." In his second report 
(Ibid., page 92), he said: "Our force, all told, about one 
thousand two hundred men." Col. Hill, in his report to 
Col. Magruder (Ibid., page 97) said: "The Confederates 
had in all about one thousand two hundred men in the ac- 
tion." On page 96, he said: "There were not quite eight 
hundred of my regiment engaged in the fight." On the same 
page he mentions also the presence of "a detachment of fif- 
teen cadets from the North Carolina Military Institute." 
The two may be considered as equal to 800. The difference 
between this number (800) of North Carolinians and the 
total given by Col. Magruder and Col. Hill (1,200) repre- 
sents the number of other troops at Bethel; so that North 
Carolina had twice as many (800) as all the other troops 
combined (400). 

4. Col. Hill's report (page 96, Ibid.) gives the list of cas- 
ualties at Bethel. They were seven (7) in number (includ- 
ing Wyatt) in his regiment, and three (3) in Randolph's 
Howitzer Battery. The casualties suffered by North Caro- 
lina were therefore as 2^4 to 1. 

5. Major Hotchkiss, the war historian of Virginia, says 
(page 140, Volume 111, Confederate Military History) : "It 
is generally admitted that young Wyatt was the first Confed- 
erate soldier killed in action in Virginia during the Civil 
War." As Bethel was the first pitched battle of the war, 
Wvatt was the first Confederate soldier killed in battle in the 



First at Bethel. 17 

war. Col. Magruder, describing Wjatt's death, said in his 
report (page 92, Vol. 11, Series 1, Official Records of the 
War) : ''Henry L. Wyatt is the name of this brave soldier and 
devoted patriot. He was a member of the brave and gallant 
iSTorth Carolina regiment." 

The word "first", then, used in connection with the victory 
at Bethel, the first pitched battle of the war, and descriptive 
of Xorth Carolina's achievements and losses there, may be 
said to refer with truth to these facts, viz : 

1. Her first Regiment of Volunteers was the first to arrive 
at Bethel. 

2. Her troops were first in the work done there. 

3. Her troops were first in numbers there, being as 2 tol. 

4. Her losses were first in number there, being as 2^/2 to 1. 

5. It was a member of her regiment there who was the first 
to fall in battle in the war. 



The writer, who was present at the Battle of Bethel, notes 
that Judge Christian makes another complaint under this 
head. He complains (page 7 of his pani]ihlet) that, on 
page 123 of Volume 1, ''Xorth Carolina Regiments, 1861- 
65," the claim is made "that one of the effects of the fight 
made by the 'Bethel Regiment' was the 'possibly holding 
Virginia in the Confederacy' " ; and he declares this to be 
the "unkindest cut of all" at Virginia. 

The words "possibly holding Virginia in the Confederacy"^ 
occur in the "Conclusion" to the history of "The Bethel Reg- 
iment, The ^irst J^orth Carolina Volunteers," and are one of 
a number of summary deductions from the preceding text. 
The words complained of were a legitimate deduction from 
the statements made by Major Jed Hotchkiss, the author of 
the Virginia Volume (111) of the "Confederate Military 
History," describing therein the condition of affairs in Vir- 
ginia at the time, and some of which statements are repro- 
duced in the history of "The Bethel Regiment" on pages 
80-81. One of these statements by Major Hotchkiss (page 
128, Vol. Ill, Confederate Military History) is as follows: 

"D. G. Duncan, the special agent of the Confederate Gov- 
ernment, from Richmond, reported to Secretary of War L. P. 
Walker, that intelligent and distinguished men in Richmond 



18 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

'believe Virginia on the very brink of being carried back, and 
•say no man but President Davis can save her.' " [That was 
-May 7th, Ibid., page 129.] 

Another of the statements made by Major Hotchkiss (page 

129, Vol. Ill, Confederate Military History) is as follows: 
"From liiehmond, on the 11th, [of May], Rev. Dr. W. K. 

Pendleton, of Lexington, Va., (afterward Captain of the 
Rockbridge artillery, and later colonel and brigadier general 
of artillery), wrote to President Davis: 'As you value our 
great cause, hasten on to Richmond. Lincoln and Scott are 
if 1 mistake not, covering by other demonstrations the great 
movement upon Richmond, Suppose they should send sud- 
denly up the York river, as they can, an army of 30,000 or 
more ; there are no means at hand to repel them, and if their 
policy shoAMi in Maryland gets footing here, it will be a 
severe, if not a fatal blow. Hasten, I pray you, to avert it. 
The very fact of your presence will almost answer. Hasten, 
then. I entreat you, don't lose a day.' " 

Another statement made by Major Hotchkiss (pages 129- 

130, Ibid.) is as follows: 

''Major Benjamin S. Ewell, in command of the Virginia 
militia at Williamsburg, wrote on the 11th [of May] to 
Adjutant-General Garnett that a better disposition to volun- 
teer in the service of the State had been evinced by the citi- 
zens of James City, York and Warwick, and he hoped to be 
able to report within a week five or six companies mustered 
in and doing camp duty ; that in Elizabeth City county, vol- 
unteers and militia numbered about 600 men, so that about 
1,200 could be raised on the peninsula. He asked for arms 
and a battery of field pieces for these men, and for cadets to 
drill them. In a private letter of the same date. Major Ewell 
informed General Lee that there was a disaffection in the 
Poquosin island section of York county, from which there 
had been no volunteers, and it might be w^ell to give him au- 
thority to call out the militia of the Sixty-eighth regiment 
from that section if found necessary." 

Another statement of Major Hotchkiss, (page 131, Ibid.) 
is as follows : 

"Brig.-Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, of the Massachusetts 
militia, was assigned, on the 22nd of May, to the command 
of the 'department of Virginia', with headquarters at Old 



First at Bethel. 19 

Point Comfort, and nine additional infantry regiments were 
sent to that place." 

Amother statement by Major Hotchkiss (page 131, Ibid.) 
is as follows : 

''Major Gary reported to Colonel Ewell at Williamsbnrg, 
that this demonstration [by a Federal regiment against 
Hampton, on ]\Iay 23rd] indicated the propriety of removing 
his camp farther from Hampton, where the people had res- 
ponded indifferently to his call for aid in erecting intrench- 
ments." 

These statements, made by Major Hotchkiss, the authorized 
war historian of Virginia, were accepted as mere historic 
facts and treated accordingly. In reproducing them from 
Major Hotchkiss's Virginia history, no reflection, of course, 
was intended upon the patriotic State of Virginia. The 
victory at Bethel re-shifted the theatre of war from the Pen- 
insula to the Washington line of approach to Richmond, and 
nothing more was heard of the disaffection reported by Major 
Hotchkiss. 

If, then, the First ISTorth Carolina regiment was the chief 
factor in gaining this victory, the words "possibly holding 
Virginia in the Confederacy," applied to its work there, was 
a legitimate deduction from Major Hotchkiss's history. 

E. J. Hale. 
Fayetteville, N. C, 

25 August, 1904. 




BATTLE OF BETHEL, 10 JUNE, 1861. 



CAROLINA FARTHEST TO THE 
FRONT AT GETTYSBURG." 



By judge W. a. MONTGOMERY. 



From the hour when General Lee, riding with General 
Longstreet at the head of the 1st Corps for the concentration 
of his army at Cashtown, apparently calm and confident, but 
really deeply anxious and depressed whether for the unfor- 
tunate absence of the Cavalry or because of his need of Gen- 
eral Jackson's counsel, heard wdth amazement the guns of 
A. P. Hill in conflict with those of the enemy toward Gettys- 
burg, discussion, contention, disputation over almost all of 
the important parts taken by the different bodies of the troops 
and the conduct of those in command of them in the battles 
which immediately followed, have been legacies ever in 
present enjoyment. 

That such has been the case is not a matter for surprise, 
for, the Confederacy received its death wound at Gettysburg 
notwithstanding it made afterwards through its armies great 
and heroic displays of strength on other battle fields, notably, 
Chickamauga, Wilderness, Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor; 
and it was almost natural to expect that there would be 
disparagement of the conduct of some and an undue extolling 
of that of others in the effort to fix the responsibility of fail- 
ure. 

North Carolinians, continuously, from the moment when 
the assault under General Longstreet's direction on the Union 
forces upon Cemetery Ridge was made, have claimed that in 
that assault the troops from their State went "farthest to the 
front." There has been controversion, all along, by Vir- 
ginians of that claim, and at no time, nor by any one, has the 
denial been so strongly stated as by Judge Christian in "An 
Official Report of the History Committee of the Grand 
Camp C. v.. Department of Virginia," published under the 
auspices of that society. 

In the pamphlet, too, as might have been anticipated, the 
honor which ISTorth Carolinians think themselves entitled to, 



22 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

the author insists is the rightful due of Virginians won by 
Pickett's Division. The style of the author is clear and 
elegant, and the spirit in which he wrote, admirable. 

We would approach the subject in a similar temper with 
no hope, however, of emulating the style and eloquence of 
the distinguished writer. jSTevertheless, upon a review of the 
matter and after an examination of all accessible information, 
it is thought that ISTorth Carolinians ought not to recede from 
the position they have all along taken. They are aware that 
their assertion is valueless without sufficient and competent 
evidence to support it; and they recognize, also, that not 
only is the burden of proof upon them, but that they are met 
w limine with the adverse official report of General Long- 
street and the opposing writings (subsequent) of Colonel 
Taylor, General Lee's chief of staff, (Four Years with Gen- 
eral Lee) and, General Long, at that time General Lee's Mili- 
tary Secretary, (Memoirs of Robert E. Lee) and Colonel 
Alexander, Director of Confederate Artillery on that day. 
(Letter to the Southern Society Papers, Vol. 4.) From all 
these sources except Col. Alexander's letter it is made to 
appear that Heth's Division Commanded by Pettigrew, and 
Lane's and Scales' brigades under Trimble, as a second line, 
were repulsed and driven from the field in disorder, and 
that Pickett with his division was left alone to make the 
charge. Col. Alexander thought that Heth's division went in 
on Pickett's right and too late to accomplish anything. 

Colonel Taylor, after reciting that Heth's division faltered 
and finally retired and mentioning other embarrassments of 
Pickett's division, continued : "In spite of all this, it (Pick- 
ett's division) steadily and gallantly advanced to its allotted 
task. As the three brigades under Garnett, Armistead and 
Kemper approached the enemy's lines a most terrific fire of 
artillery and small arms is concentrated upon them ; but 
they swerved not — there is no faltering; steadily moving 
forward they rapidly reduce the intervening space and close 
with their adversaries; leaping the breast-works, they drive 
back the enemy and plant their standards on the captured 
guns, amid shouts of victory." General Long in his Book, 
after relating that Heth's division under Pettigrew had 
fallen back in disorder and that on that account Scales and 
Lane were compelled to fall l>ack while Wilcox perceiving 



Farthest to the Front at Gettysburg. 23 

that the attack had grown hopeless had failed to advance, 
said that Pickett's men were left to continue the charge 
alone. Then he recites the advance of the Virginians, their 
leaping the breast-Avorks and planting their standards on the 
captured guns w^th shouts of victory. And he goes on, 
"]^ow was the time that they, (the supporting columns) 
should have come to the aid of their victorious comrades ; but, 
alas ! Heth's division which had behaved with great gallantry 
two days before, had not been able to face the terrible fire of 
the Federal lines; whilst the other supports were too remote 
to afford timely relief. . . . On every side the enemy closed 
in on Pickett's Brigades concentrating on them the fire of 
every gun on that part of the line." 

Colonel Alexander wrote, "As soon as it was clear that 
Pickett was "gone up" I ceased firing, saving what little 
ammunition was left for fear of an advance by the enemy. 
About this time General Lee came up to our guns alone and 
remained there half an hour or more speaking to Pickett's 
men as they came straggling back and encouraging them to 
form again in the first cover they could find. A little before 
this Heth's division under Pettigrew^ had been advanced, also, 
but I cannot recall the moment or the place where I saw them, 
but only the impression on my mind as the men passed us 
that the charge must surely be some misapprehension of or- 
ders, as the circumstances at the moment made it utterly im- 
possible that it could accomplish anything and I thought what 
a pity it was that so many of them were about being saerified 
in vain. It was intended, I believe, that Pettigrew should sup- 
port Pickett's right fiank, but the distance that had to be tra- 
versed in the charge got such an interval between the two that 
Pickett's force was spent and his division disintegrated l)efore 
Pettigrew's got under close fire." And what General Lee 
said in his olficial report must also be added. He there said, 
"Owing to this fact (the lack of artillery su]iport) whicli was 
unknown to me when the assault took place the enemy was 
enabled to throw a strong force of infantry against our left; 
already wavering under a concentrated fire of artiller^' from 
the ridge in front and from Cemetery Hill on the left, it 
finally gave way, and the right, after penetrating the enemy's 
lines, entering his advanced works, and capturing souie of 



24 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

his artillery, was attacked simultaneously in front and on 
both flanks and driven back with heavy loss." 

If the foregoing accounts of Longstreet's assault are in fact 
true accounts, then of course, there is nothing in the claim 
of North Carolinians that they went ^'f arthest at Gettysburg" ; 
but on the contrary they did not maintain their former good 
reputation for courage and discipline. It is insisted, though, 
with great respect for the high authority from which they 
emanated that those accounts are not founded on the facts. 
It is believed that there is, and has been, evidence at hand 
to show that those statements were based neither on positive 
knowledge, nor upon correct information; that the North 
Carolina troops behaved with the greatest gallantry and 
that they went "farthest to the front." Before that evidence 
is introduced, however, analyses of those accounts will clear 
the matter of many difficulties. 

Of course General Lee's official report is of vast import- 
ance. It is to be remembered, however, that his position 
during the battle was at the edge of Spangler's woods from 
which Pickett's division commenced its advance, a mile from 
the line of Webb's and Smyth's brigades where the assaulting 
column struck the Federal forces. The smoke of battle and 
the distance from the collision prevented him from seeing 
what was actually going on there. Major Schiebert, an artil- 
lery officer of the German Army, then on a visit at General 
Lee's headquarters, in a letter published in the Southern 
Historical Papers, Vol. 5, wrote, that he was in the top of a 
very tall tree watching the battle and that General Lee came 
to the tree twice and asked him about the movements of the 
enemy. General Lee had to rely on the reports of his officers, 
and it is most reasonable to conclude that he based his report 
upon that of General Longstreet, who was in charge of the 
movement, re-enforced as that report was by others of one or 
two of the officers of Pickett's division, particularly that of 
Col. Peyton in command of Garnett's brigade after that 
officer had fallen. 

In after years General Longstreet, no doubt after careful 
study of all the facts and after having revisited Gettysburg, 
altered his views about the North Carolina troops, and in his 
Book, "From Manassas to Appomattox," published in 1896, 
corrected his official report. In the report he said : "Major- 




Con'fede^rcO'te Lines fmtmumuuuum 

FIELD OF LONGSTREET'S ASS 









r^^ ^S<^. %H^ /W 

V^,_ // <J IS* 

// / f . <s w^ ^ 




-_^^ — ^ 




Fe^d^Tcil Lints 



LT, GETTYSBURG, JULY 3, 1863. 



Farthest to the Front at Gettysburg. 25 

General Anderson's division was ordered forward to support 
and assist the wavering columns of Pettigrew and Trimble. 
Pickett's troops after delivering fire advanced to the charge, 
and entered the enemy's lines, capturing some of his batteries 
and gained his works, about the same moment, the troops that 
had before hesitated, broke their ranks and fell back in great 
disorder. . . . This gave the enemy time to throw his entire 
force upon Pickett with a strong prospect of being able to 
break up his lines or destroy him before Anderson's division 
could reach him, which would in its turn have greatly exposed 
Anderson. He was, therefore, ordered to halt. In a few mo- 
ments the enemy marching against both flanks and the front 
of Pickett's division overpowered it and drove it back, cap- 
turing about half of it, who were not killed or wounded." 
This is what he afterwards wrote in his book : "The enemy's 
right overreached my left and gave serious trouble. Brocken- 
broughs brigade went down and Davis' in impetuous charge. 
The general order required further assistance from the 3rd 
Corps if needed, but no support appeared. General Lee and 
the corps commanders were there but failed to order help. 
Col. Latrobe was sent to General Trimble to have his men 
fill the line of the broken brigades, and bravely they repaired 
the damage. Trimble mended the battle of the left in hand- 
some style, but on the right the massing of the enemy grew 
stronger and stronger. Brigadier-General Garnett was killed, 
Kemper and Trimble were desperately wounded ; Gens. Han- 
cock and Gibbon were wounded. General Lane succeeded 
Trimble, and with Pettigrew held the battle of the left in 
steady ranks." 

Of course, it is not to be thought that Colonel Taylor or 
General Long could make any statement about the Assault 
except upon information, deemed by him, reliable. They 
were not present on the firing line ; and it was impossible 
therefore for them to have seen what was actuallv going on 
there. Major Jones, who commanded Pettigrew's brigade 
after Colonel Marshall was killed, wrote a few days after 
the battle, "The smoke was dense, and at times I could scarce- 
ly distinguish my own men from Pickett's, and to say that 
any one a mile off could do so is utterly absurd." Their ac- 
counts of the nature of the Artillery fire upon Pickett's di- 
vision show that thev wrote without actual knowledge of the 



26 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

matter. Colonel Peyton said in his official report, "Up to 
this time (when within one hnndred yards of the rock fence) 
we had suffered but little from the enemy's batteries which 
had been apparently much crippled previous to our advance 
wath the exception of one on the mountain about one mile to 
our right which enfiladed nearly our entire line with power- 
ful effect, sometimes as many as ten men being killed or 
wounded by the bursting of a single shell." General Hunt 
who had charge of the Federal artillery on that day in an 
article published in the January, 1887, Number of the Cen- 
tury Magazine, "I had counted on an artillery crossfire that 
would stop it (Pickett's division) before it reached our line, 
but, except a few shots here and there, Hazard's batteries were 
silent until the enemy came within canister range. They 
had, unfortunately, exhausted their long-range projectiles dur- 
ing the cannonade, under the orders of the corps-commander, 
and it was too late to replace them. Had my instructions 
been followed here, as they were by McGilvery, I do not be- 
lieve that Pickett's division would have reached our lines. 
We lost not only the fire of one third of our guns, but the 
resulting cross-fire, which would have doubled its value." 

Colonel Alexander took position on the right and in rear of 
Pickett's advance. No comment is necessary in connection 
with his account of the Assault as the part taken by Heth's 
division further than to say that that division formed on the 
left of Pickett's, and was never expected to form on Pickett's 
right; that the troops which Colonel Alexander saw on the 
right were Wilcox's brigade going into the battle and in sup- 
port of Pickett, and that Virginians would not be willing to 
accept the statement that Heth's division went to close work 
with the enemy after Pickett's men had "gone up". 

Before reciting the e-^'idence going to show that North Caro- 
linians went farthest to the front at Gettysburg and taking 
up the discussion of that matter, it is necessary to describe 
the assailed portion of the Union Line on Cemetery Ridge 
and to locate and identify the troops which defended the po- 
sition. The Ridge extends from the Cemetry, south, to- 
ward Round Top, two miles away, and along its upper west- 
ern slope there ran a stone fence. The course of this fence 
was not an unbroken straight north and south line. For sev- 
eral hundred vards from its southern terminus it ran due 



Farthest to the Front at Gettysburg. 27 

north, then turned due east (the space enclosed being called 
the "Angle") 80 yards and then turned again due north for 
several hundred yards to the Bryan barn; that is, that part 
of the rock wall in front of the right of the column of attack 
stood forwftrd about 80 yards while that part of the wall in 
front of the left of the column of attack receded inwardly, 
giving to the enemy's line of defence an echelon formation. 
The Confederate line when it reached the near proximity of 
that wall exactly equalled its entire length. Posted behind 
the east side of the rock wall were the troops of the 2nd Corps. 
(Hancock's). 

From the vertex of the "Angle" to the southward along 
the wall was the 2nd division commanded by Gibbon, with 
Webb's brigade on the right then Hall's then Harrow's. Along 
the receding wall from the point where it turned due north 
was the 2nd brigade of the 3rd division, and then to the ISTorth 
along the wall the 3rd brigade of that division. The 2nd 
brigade was commanded by Col. Smyth and the 3rd by 
Colonel Bull, Willard having been killed the day before, and 
Colonel Sherrell in the present action. Webb's right regi- 
ment, the 71st Penn. Volunteers, facing to the west (from 
which course came the Confederate advance) had its right 
resting upon the vertex of the "Angle". On the left of the 
71st Penn. was the 69th Penn. Volmiteers. The objective 
point in the Federal line, i. e., the point to which the centre 
of the column of attack, the left of Pickett's and the right of 
Heth's division, (the latter commanded by Pettigrew) was di- 
rected was a cluster of chestnut oak trees that stood inside the 
union line a little to the rear and left of the 69th Penn. Vol- 
unteers. Pickett's division assaulted the three brigades of 
Gibbon's division, and General Armistead after Pickett's men 
had reached the wall, with a hundred or more Virginians 
broke through, and over, the wall in front of Webb and reach- 
ed a point 33 yards beyond, where he fell mortally wounded, 
and his followers killed or driven out. General Webb in his 
official report stated that only a part of the 71st Penn. was 
driven from the wall and that the 69th Penn. and a part of 
the 71st Penn. held their positions at the wall. General 
Gibbon said that the whole front line of Webb was driven 
back. Xuraerous [N'orth Carolinians of Pettigrew's and 
Scales' and Lane's brigades and some of Archer's Tennesseans 



28 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

have since the battle claimed that they entered the salient also. 
But this writer has found no such statement embodied in any 
of the official reports. The right of Heth's division was at 
and a little to the south of the vertex of the "Angle". The 
three I^orth Carolina brigades, Pettigrew's commanded by 
Colonel Marshall until he was killed and then by Major 
Jones, Lane's and Scales' assaulted Smyth's brigade along its 
entire front and a part of Willard's posted behind the Reced- 
ing wall 80 yards to the east of the wall behind which Webb 
with his brigade and the other brigades of Gibbon's division 
were posted. For the purposes of this article it makes no 
difference whether Pettigrew's Brigade of the first line, or 
Scale's, or Lane's of the second line, in succession or com- 
mingled in our line, made the assault on Smyth's brigade. 
And to digress slightly, it may be as well to add that there 
was a confusion and commingling of the various commands at 
and aroimd the vertex in front of Webb. Captain Owen, of 
Garnett's brigade, in an article in the Philadelphia Weekly 
Times (1881), wrote: "A hundred yards from the stone wall 
the flanking party on the right coming do^^^l on a heavy run, 
lialted suddenly within fifty yards and poured a deadly storm 
of musket balls into Pickett's men, double-quicking across 
their front, and under this terrible cross-fire the men reeled 
and staggered between falling comrades and the right came 
pressing down upon the centre, crowding the companies into 
confusion. We all knew the pur])ose was to carry the heights 
in front, and the mingled mass, from fifteen to thirty deep 
rushed toward the stone wall. ..." The same condition 
prevailed within the Angle amongst the Federal troops. Gen. 
Hancock in his official report, after relating that reinforce- 
ments had been brought to Webb, said, "The situation now 
was very peculiar. The men of all the brigades had in some 
measure lost their regimental organization, but individually 
they were firm. In regular formation our line would have 
stood four ranks deep." But to return to the main subject: 
It is insisted that troops of the brigades of Pettigrew, Lane 
and Scales, whether in successive lines of battle or com- 
mingled in one is immaterial, did advance upon Smyth's bri- 
gade behind the recedino; wall bevond the line held by Webb 
and before Webb gave way. If they did so advance, then, 
the presence on the right flank and rear of Webb's first line 



Farthest to the Front at Gettysburg. 



29 




S O uf h 



THE FIELD OF GETTYSBURG. 

The first positions of the Confederate brigades are shown on the left 
and then two subsequent intermediate positions, while the final position 
attained is marked: by the thin line in front of the stone wall and within 
Gibbon's line on the south of it. 

Webb's position in the angle is marked W. Hall's and Harrow's bri- 
gades continued the Federal line toward Stannard's brigade. 



30 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

must have had as great an effect in breaking Webb's line, and 
forcing it back as the attack in front; and if the North Caro- 
linians continued the advance upon Smyth behind the reced- 
inging wall further to the east than the point where General 
Armistead fell, then, not technically, but truly. North Caro- 
linians have made good their claim that their troops "went 
farthest at Gettysburg," Gen. Armistead was killed thirty 
three yards to the east of, and in rear of Webb's front line. 
Now what is the evidence to show that the North Carolinians 
fought at the left of the vertex of the Angle, that they ad- 
vanced upon Smyth's brigade behind the receding wall before 
Webb gave way, and that they went farther toward the re- 
ceding wall than thirty three yards (General Armistead hav- 
ing been killed thirty three yards to the east of Webb's pro- 
jecting line) from an imaginary extension of the rock wall 
in Webb's front toward the north ? Colonel Shepard who 
commanded Archer's brigade, the right brigade of Heth's di- 
vision, in his official report said, that before the advance was 
half made his brigade and that of Garnett's the left of Pick- 
ett's division, were in touch, and that afterwards when the 
line reached the rock wall the line seemed to have melted away 
until there was little of it left, and that four of his regimental 
flags were captured at the works. That account placed Arch- 
er's brigade in front of Webb. Next to Archer on his left 
was Pettigrew's brigade reinforced by Lane and Scales. 

Major Jones of the 26th North Carolina regiment then in 
command of Pettigrew's brigade, in his official report, stated 
that, "The brigade dashed on and many had reached the wall 
(italics the writer's) when we received a deadly volley from 
the left. Major Jones did not have reference to the projecting 
wall in front of Webb but to the receding wall in front of 
Smyth. In a letter written bv him within the same month of 
the battle to the father of Colonel Burgwyn (Col. Burgwyn 
having been killed in the first day's battle) and published 
early in 186-i in the FaijettevUle Observer, he wrote, that the 
color-bearer of his regiment was shot down while attempting 
to plant the flag on the wall. "I know (he further wrote) 
we went as far as he (Pickett) did, and I can safely assert 
some distance beyond, owing to the shape of the enemy's 
works, which ran backward in my front in the form of a curve, 
and which compelled us to go beyond where Pickett's men 



Farthest to the Front at Gettysburg. 31 

were already at their works iu order to reach them ourselves." 
Col. I-owrence in command of Scales' Brigade, (General 
Scales having been wounded in the first day's battle) who 
went in just where Pettigrew's brigade did, said in his official 
rejDort that he went forward until the right of the brigade 
touched the enemy's line of breast-works, as they marched in 
a rather oblique line. He further said "The two brigades 
(now reduced to mere squads not numbering in all 800 guns) 
were the only line to be seen on that vast field, and no support 
in view." General Lane in his official report said, "The men 
reserved their fire in accordance with orders, until within 
good range of the enemy, and then opened with telling effect, 
repeatedly driving the cannoneers from their pieces, com- 
pletely silencing the guns in our immediate front, and break- 
ing the line of infantry which was formed on the crest of the 
hill. We advanced to within a few yards of the stone wall 
exposed all the while to a heavy raking artillery fire from the 
right." 

In an article published in Vol. 5 of JSTorth Carolina Regi- 
ments 1861-1S65 and written by Major W. M. Robbins, 
Major of the 4th Alabama Regiment and one of the Gettys- 
burg Battle Field Commissioners since March, 1894, it is 
said, "And while Armistead and his heroic followers were 
over in the Angle where were Pettigrew's thin but gallant 
battalions l They were making a desperate effort to storm 
the high stone wall 80 yards east of the Angle and were being 
mowed down like grain before the reaper by the double line of 
infantry behind that wall. A few men reached it, but finding 
it too high to leap over could do nothing but surrender. . , I 
have also stated whither and how far the faithful veterans 
of Trimble and Pettigrew advanced, which was near the high 
stone wall before mentioned 80 yards farther east than the 
Angle and to the left and northward of the spot where the 
noble Armistead fell. Does any one doubt the accuracy of 
tliat statement ? If so, I must suggest the undisputed fact 
that the best proof where a line of soldiers went to is where 
they left their dead ; and where that was in this case is estab- 
lished beyond question by multitudes of disinterested wit- 
nesses." 

There is strong confirmatory evidence from the Union side 
of that which we have introduced above.' 



32 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

Colonel Bachelder, one of the first of the Gettysburg Battle- 
field Commission, and who was thoroughly acquainted with 
the topography, and the movements of the troops as well, 
wrote, '"The left of the column continued to move on towards 
the second wall, threatening the right and rear of Gibbons' 
division which held the advanced line. General Webb, whose 
brigade was on the right (in the projection), had hurried 
back to bring up his right reserve regiment from the second 
line. But before this could be accomplished the first line 
broke under the tremendous pressure which threatened its 
front and flank (italics the writer's), and fell back upon the 
reserve." 

Colonel Smyth who was in command of the second brigade 
behind the receding wall said in his ofiicial report : "My men 
were directed to reserve their fire until the foe was within 50 
yards, when so effecti'^'e and incessant was the fire from my 
line that the advancing enemy was staggered, thrown into con- 
fusion, and finally fled from the field." And Colonel Swal- 
low, in the Southern Bivouac for February, 1886, wrote that 
while he "lay wounded with General Smyth at Gettysburg, 
that ofiicer told him that Pettigrew's brigade all along his 
front were within thirty or forty feet of his line and fought 
with a fury and determination that he had never seen equal- 
led." 

From the above evidence it is submitted without further 
comment that the claim of North Carolinians that their troops 
went "farthest to the front at Gettysburg" is well sustained. 

Our people, however, do not wish in making their claim 
to be understood as intending to depreciate the achievements 
of others on that memorable field. That would be both un- 
just and selfish. 

Indeed, if it were needed to, here, set down in print an 
account of the heroism of Pickett's men and the grandeur of 
their charge on that fateful day, words however eloquent, 
would be inadequate to express their meed of praise. No 
nobler people ever inhabited any spot of our globe than the 
Virginians of 1861-65 ; no people in the annals of all history, 
not even the Dutch under the influence of their great William 
in the terrible Spanish Invasion, ever bore themselves more 
majestically, more courageously and more unselfishly than 
did the Virginians under their great Robert E. Lee in the 



Farthest to the Front at Gettysburg. 33 

four years of the war between the States, And were not the 
Confederate soldiers from that State of the same flesh and 
blood of its citizenship and children of the great Mother Com- 
monwealth ? And what could be expected of them but that 
they would follow their great leader in the path of duty, even 
though it led to and through the Union line of battle on Cem- 
etery Ridge ? 

Walter A. Montgomery. 
Raleigh, N. C., 

25 Aug., 1904. 




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showing the scene of 

LONGSTREETS FINAL ASSAULT 

ON THE UNION LINES AT 

GETTYSBURG, JULY 3, 1863 

and the fbsithnsafHierespediveMitsafhKfisfheninofidfiarmies 

.PREPARED BY THE 

GETTYSBURG NATIONAL PARK COMMISSION 

ana tiose<r upon the evidence carefully gafherecf frorr 
all sources ana collaf-ea by said Commission. 
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5H. Hammond AssI-Ens. 



LONGSTREET'S ASSAULT AT 
GETTYSBURG. 



By LIEUT. W. R. BOND, A. D. C. to GEN. DANIEL. 



The distinguished author of "New York at Gettysburg" 
says, "Longstreet's assault on the third day had some slight 
resemblance of success when Armistead and his men crossed 
the wall — just enough to divert attention from the utter hope- 
lessness of the attempt and relieve the affair from the odium 
of an inexcusable error. But the slight success of the Con- 
federates would not have been possible, but for the mistake 
of placing a battery on the front line at the angle. It was 
through this and at no other place that an entrance was made. 
Had there been a strong force of infantry on that portion of 
the line, not a Confederate would have crossed the wall. 
The storm of bullets would have beaten them back there the 
same as at every other point of the line. The grand cannon- 
ade was a dramatic incident that has unduly magnified the 
operations of the third day. It was a piece of noisy Chinese 
warfare that accomplished nothing." 

Gen. Meade who characterized the assault as a "mad" and 
reckless movement was censured in certain quarters for not 
having made a return attack after the repulse, and his Chief 
of Artillery Gen. Hunt, though he had no special liking 
for him, came to his defence by saying "an advance of twenty 
thousand men from Cemetery Ridge in the face of one hun- 
dred and forty guns there in position would have been stark 
madness." 

The strength of the assaulting column w^as very little if 
any more than one half of twenty thousand and had Hood's 
and McLaw's divisions been added it would not have exceeded 
that number. Gen. Fitz Lee who unjustly holds Gen. Long- 
street responsible for the column being as weak as it was 
says, "why if every man in that assault had been bullet proof 
and they had arrived unharmed on Cemetery Ridge what 
could have been accomplished ? ISTot being able to kill them 
there would have been time for the Federals to have seized. 



36 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

tied and taken them off in wagons before their supports could 
have reached them." 

As to this last extract the words are of course exaggerated, 
but the idea conveyed in it as in the others is that, in the 
nature of things the attack could not possibly have succeeded. 
How different all this from the early accounts by such crude 
historians as Pollard and Swinton. These writers give the 
impression that this last attack was repulsed and the battle 
lost because the North Carolina troops when "weighed in the 
balance were found wanting." Their unjufit and cruel re- 
flections upon the best troops in the best army of the Confed- 
eracy, were every^vhere, outside of North Carolina, accepted 
as true. But even the authority of the great St. Paul could 
not have convinced the Tar Heels that regiments which had 
suffered as enoimously as theirs, could ever have behaved 
badly. Why, there was one company in the 26 N. C. regiment 
with three officers and eighty four men. All three of the offi- 
cers and eighty-three of the men were killed or wounded. 
There w^as one in the 11 N. C. regiment with three officers 
and thirty eight men. Two of the officers were killed and 
thirty four of the men were struck and the color company of 
the 38 N. C had every officer and man hit. 

"Truth crushed to the earth will rise again 
The eternal years of God are hers." 

Less than forty of these eternal years of God had passed 
ere well informed soldiers everywhere admitted, that the 
assault was doomed to failure from the start. This admitted, 
none of the troops engaged can be held responsible for its fail- 
ure. But now behold "wounded error" shifting his ground 
and claiming only, that on that crimson field the right divis- 
ion acted the most heroic part. Invoking the assistance of 
Truth it shall be my purpose to combat this claim. 

The report of the Virginia History Committee starts out 
by saying many pleasant things about N. C. soldiers, but later 
on it gives extracts from the official reports of officers with 
the intention of proving that these generous sounding words 
are not precisely true words and that compliments are not 
ahvays to be taken literally. One of these extracts is from 
the report of Col. Lowrance of the 34 N. C. Regiment who 
though painfully wounded in the first day's battle, comman- 



Longstreet's Assault at Gettysburg. 37 

ed Scales' brigade in the assault. The extract tells of how 
"troops from the front came tearing through our ranks, which 
caused many of our men to break, but with the remaining 
few we went forward until the right of the brigade touched 
the enemy's line of breast works. ***** ]SJ"ow all 
had apparently forsaken us." 

Commenting on the report, the address says, "ISTow the 
troops in front of Lowrance were Pettigrew's and he says, 
they gave way a third of a mile before they got to the enemy's 
works, but be this as it may, he nowhere says that any of his 
men entered the enemy's works and none of the reports we 
have seen say that any North Carolina troops did this, which 
as we have seen is the real point at issue." 

Comment No. 1 on this comment is that when Col. Low- 
rance said that the right of his brigade "touched" the works, 
of course he meant it reached them. That his troops should 
have gotten on the other side and occupied them as a captured 
fort is occupied when a counter attack was to be expected 
would have been a rather remarkable proceeding even for 
that field of folly. It used to be laughingly told on that gal- 
lant old Confederate General Pillow that on a certain occa- 
sion having carried some breast works, he soon lost them in 
consequence of having placed his men on the side from which 
the enemy had been driven. This story however was only a 
soldier's joke. The real case was that this officer led his 
brigade over the works in pursuit of the enemy, and when the 
return attack came his men being disorganized by their rush, 
not only lost the ground they stood upon, but the works they 
might have held. Had this general (who served in the 
West) left his brigade at the works and been mortally wound- 
ed, while he and a small squad pursued the enemy, he might 
perhaps have been called a hero or again perhaps he might 
have been an object of ridicule. No one can tell off hand in 
what class he would have been placed. 

With us consideration of longtiude and latitude had much 
to do with deciding such matters. 

Comment No. 2 on this comment is that it is by no means 
certain that all the troops in front of Lowrance's were Petti- 
grew's. This brigade, (Lowrance's) started out in rear Arch- 
er's which was on Pettigrew's right but soon Pickett's men 
were moved to the left, and in crossing the field Lowrance 



38 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

may have drifted to the right, as the close of the assault 
found a part of them mixed with Armistead's and Garnett's 
men and part with Archer's. 

The Federal Col. Hall gives the names of five flags cap- 
tured by his brigade. Two of them belonged to Garnett's, 
two to Armistead's and one to Lowrance's. Carroll's brigade 
captured one of Armistead's and one of Lowrance's ; Smith's 
two from Archer's one from Lowrance and that of the 52 
N". C, the right regiment of the brigade commanded by Col. 
Marshall. Twenty-eight regimental flags in all were captured. 
The names of many of them were not reported. Pickett's 
troops lost thirteen of their fifteen flags. We find in "New 
York at Gettysburg" this statement: "Private Michael Mc- 
Donald of this regiment (42 N. Y. Tammany) captured 
the flag of the 22nd N. C. of Scales' brigade whose troops 
were commingled with Pickett's at the Angle." 

And yet the address says, "We have shown we think con- 
clusively, that the Virginians did penetrate the enemy's line 
on the 3d of July, '63, in the famous charge at Gettysburg, 
and that the North Carolinians under Pettigrew and Trimble, 
did not." 

Returning to the comment on Col. Lowrance's report. 
There is something else that tends to support the conten- 
tion that the troops which broke through, were not necessarily 
Pettigrew's, for the late Gen. Bearing (at the time of the 
battle a Major of artillery and in command of the guns, 
which moved out with the assaulting column) shortly after 
this battle told a North Carolina oflicer, a friend of the writer, 
that hundreds of Pickett's men went to the rear even before a 
shot had been fired at them. This is mentioned as a fact and 
not as a reflection, of the character of a city or state 
is guaged by its best and not by its worst citizens, and the 
same rule applies to military organizations. If, when Col. 
Lowrance says all had apparently forsaken them, he means 
that at that time the fragments of his brigade and the troops 
with them at, or near, the salient were the only ones left on 
the field, he is mistaken, for far over to the left in front of 
Sherrill's brigade was Lane's North Carolina and there they 
remained completely dominating the enemy in their front, 
till they were ordered to retire, and this order was not given 
till after every other Confederate organization had either 



Longstreet's Assault at Gettysburg. 39 

surrendered or fallen back. This is the testimony of Gen- 
erals Trimble and Lane and dozens of subordinate officers and 
their testimony is strengthened by that of Gen. Hancock who 
in a dictated dispatch to Gen. Meade said, "I had to break 
the line to attack the enemy in flank on my right where the 
enemy was most persistent, after the front attack was repell- 
ed." Yes, Col. Lowrance, your N. C. comrades of the old 
"Light Division," were there. This is the truth, and the 
shadow of great names will not forever obscure it. 

Judge Christian gives an extract from the report of Major 
John Jones commanding Pettigrew's own brigade, in which 
he says, "The brigade dashed on and many had reached the 
wall," etc. To have reached the stone wall on the left of 
the salient (they must necessarily have advanced much further 
than did the squad which followed Armistead across the 
works at the salient. They were nearer the general line of 
the Federal Army and literally further to the front than any 
troops of the right division. And when it is remembered that 
this ISTorth Carolina brigade, and its companion brigade, 
Davis' Mississippi, had fought on the first day, for numbers 
engaged, one of the bloodiest, if not the very bloodiest open 
field battle in the whole Civil War, had they, breasting that 
storm, only arrived anywhere near the wall in their front, they 
would have sho^^^l an endurance rarely equalled and never sur- 
jDassed by any troops in Lee's army. Indeed they would have 
been ''the foremost in the display of the qualities of the good 
soldier," of all the troops upon that field. 

The following is an extract from a letter written by a resi- 
dent of Chicago, Major Charles A. Hall, who has the honor 
of having served in the 5 JSTew Hampshire, a regiment which 
fought gallantly at Gettysburg, and is distinguished for hav- 
ing during the war sustained the greatest losses in battle of 
any infantry or cavalry regiment in the whole Union Army: 
"There is not a shadow of doubt in my mind but that the sons 
of North Carolina, Tennessee and Mississippi carved on the 
tablets of history equal laurels Avitli the sons of Virginia in 
the great events of that su]u-enK> attempt to gain victory at 
Cemetery Ridge. Pettigrcw and Trimble deserve^ equal 
honors with Pickett and, if we weigh with judicial exactness, 
more, for inq)artial evidence provc^s that they sufi^ered in a 
greater degree, and forced their way nearer the lines, where 



40 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

pitiless fate barred their entrance. The nearest point reach- 
ed by any troops was Bryan's barn; this is made conclusive 
by the evidence on both sides." 

Found upon the tunics of the dead soldiers at the Bryan 
bam, were buttons bearing the initials of the Old North 
State. As to what regiment these men belonged, though I 
have an opinion I do not know positively, and do not greatly 
care to know. When Major Hall says "the nearest point 
reached" he of course means nearest the general line of the 
enemy. This gallant officer. Major Hale is mighty good 
authority, for not only did he take part in the battle, but for a 
number of years was the proprietor of a Cyclorama represent- 
ing scenes from this battle and had studied the subject of his 
painting thoroughly. 

Judge Christian devoted himself in large part to reports of 
officers and comments upon them. The most of these reports 
are so conflicting that I will not attempt to reconcile them. 
Well may have the great Englishman, in whose honor our Cap- 
ital City was named, have once said, "human testimony is so 
unreliable that no two men can see the same occurrence and 
give the same account of it." Should one wish to unravel the 
tangled skein of contradictions, he should know that positive 
evidence is stronger than negative. All things being equal, the 
man who asserts that he knows a certain act was committed be- 
cause he saw it, is to be believed rather than the one who de- 
nies, and gives as his reason that he did not see it. Take for in- 
stance Lane's brigade. Generals Lee and Longstreet did not 
see these troops and honestly believed that Pickett's men were 
the last to leave the field. General Lane says, his people were 
the last to leave, and his testimony is supported by that of 
General Trimble, and that of the Federal General Hancock. 
And Lane's testimony is true, and there should not be the 
shade of a shadow of doubt about it. 

An apology is made by Judge Christian for the comparative- 
ly small losses in killed and wounded, sustained by Pickett's 
division, in the statement that it was natural that troops 
which fought only one day should not have as many killed as 
those who fought two days. To me, though I had never made 
much of a study of the influences which affect the morale of 
soldiers in and after battle, the statement did not account 
for the very great difference in loss, for I believed it was the 



Longstreet's Assault at Gettysburg. 41 

exceptional and not the natural thing that there should be 
such a difference. However I wished to get the opinion of 
Col. Fox, of Albany, on the point, as I entertained a high 
opinion of his judgment concerning this and other kindred 
subjects. In writing I submitted to him the following propo- 
sition for his decision. ''There are two bodies of troops — A 
and B — of one thousand each who fight in the same battle 
and meet with the- same loss in killed and wounded. A 
fights one day and is defeated with a loss of four hundred — 
forty per cent — B fights, defeats the enemy and loses two 
hundred and fifty — twenty-five per cent. After an interval 
of one day B again fights, taking in not seven hundred and 
fifty, but six hundred and is then defeated with a loss of one 
hundred and fifty men — twenty-five per cent. — and the folloAv- 
ing is his answer. "In reply to the proposition submitted by 
you I would say that a regiment that fought the first and 
third day of a battle has a more heroic record in respect to its 
casualties than one which was in action one day only — 
both regiments having the same strength, and losing the same 
number. When a regiment that has encountered severe 
fighting, is called upon to go into action the second or third 
day the men are subjected to a severe mental strain that ren- 
ders their service particularly heroic in this respect. Fur- 
thermore the per centage of loss will be greater than appears 
in the morning reports of the first day — because after a hard 
fight no regiment can carry into action again all of the sur- 
vivors ; no matter whether it is the next day or the day after 
that, you have evidently noticed that after a severe battle 
many of the men who had acquitted themselves creditably in 
the fighting were incapacitated for several days, although 
they may not have been hit. There are no statistics covering 
this point and one can only judge of its extent from personal 
observation. The depletion of the ranks from this cause 
would vary greatly in different regiments." I knew that 
after a hard fought battle, there would be stragglers, for in- 
stance the day after the battle of Sharpsburg when our army 
was drawn up expecting an attack, Garnett's Virginia brigade 
had only one hundred in line, and Hay's Louisiana only nine- 
ty, I knew that at Gettysburg none of the slightly wounded 
though unfit for duty for several days appeared on the cas- 
ualty list, and I was also aware of another fact, namely, that 



42 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

when the reaction conies on, after the nervous strain of battle, 
there will be men, as brave as any, but with such a tempera- 
ment that they will be really sick and unfit for duty for sev- 
eral days. But in the case submitted to Col. Fox I allowed 
only one hundred and fifty of the seven hundred and fifty or 
one fifth, to cover the absentees from these three causes. It 
is possible that the allowance of six hundred for duty was too 
large, but in making the estimate I had in mind troops that 
w^ere the equals of the best in the army. In the case of Pick- 
ett's troops two thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, were 
killed, wounded and captured. This number taken from the 
forty-nine hundred who entered the fight leaves two thousand 
and thirty-seven. Of this number only eight hundred or 
forty per cent, reported for duty on the morning of July 
the fifth. Yes, eighty per cent, to report for duty as in the 
supposed case may have been too large an estimate. 

JSTow for the comparative numerical losses sustained by cer- 
tain commands: 

Pickett's fifteen Virginia regiments had thirteen hun- 
dred and sixty-four killed and wounded or ninety one per 
regiment. There were two brigades in Pettigrew's divis- 
ion which contained eight regiments and the number of the 
killed and wounded was two thousand and two, an average of 
two hundred and fifty to the regiment. Five of these eight 
regiments were from North Carolina and their loss was thir- 
teen hundred and three or two hundred and sixty to the regi- 
ment. Had these N. C. regiments lost in their two days 
battle an average killed and wounded of only ninety-one, and 
not two hundred and sixty, even then according to excellent 
authority and in good reason, their conduct would have been 
move heroic. In the one case the limit of endurance was reach- 
ed at an average of ninety-one. In the other at two hundred 
and sixty. That Trutli and Justice should cro^^al the first with 
fame and the other with sham^ is preposterous. Indeed not 
more absurd would it be to claim that a babe in swaddling 
clothes would have more force and power on a battle-field, 
than a disciplined soldier. 

Whether for the sake of political expediency, or for a 
less honorable cause, the State of Virginia all through 
the civil war was more favored by those in authority than 
any other member of the Confederacy. In promotions, in 



Longstreet's Assault at Gettysburg. 43 

assignments to light and pleasant duty, in votes of thanks; 
in the punishment of desertions, and in every conceivable 
way was this favoritism shown. The discipline of her 
troops was less rigid than among other Confederates, and 
difficult and dangerous work except in the case of Jackson's 
old division was assigned to others. This was notably so 
with the Virginians in Longstreet's corps. After Jackson's 
death there were three corps, and one of them was command- 
ed by Gen. Ewell who was in ill health and it was thought he 
would soon retire from active service. Virginia politicians, 
who generally got what they wanted, wished to have Gen. 
Pickett succeed him ; but in a measure to justify his promo- 
tion over the heads of generals who had "borne the heat and 
burden of the day" some slight military success was thought 
desirable to give him prestige. So it fell out that on that 
eventful third of July Generals Lee and Longstreet estimat- 
ing too highly the destructiveness and the demoralizing effect 
of long range artillery fire, made a fatal mistake in regard to 
the morale of the Federal Army. 

They doubtless believed that Cemetery Heights would be 
given up without a struggle. Confiding in this belief Pick- 
ett's troops and a part of Hill's Corps were selected with the 
expectation that they would gain much glory at small cost. 
That one half the column should have been composed of Pick- 
ett's Virginians and the other half of the worst cut up troops 
in the army can be accounted for by no other reasonable hy- 
pothesis, than that it was believed at headquarters that light 
work lay before them. 

Some fifteen or twenty years ago among a series of histor- 
ical articles which appeared in the "Philadelphia Times" was 
one l)y Col. W. W. Wood (at the time of the battle a captain 
in one of Armistead's regiments) giving an account of the 
action. There is good reason for believing that the author 
was not only a brave officer but a truthful man. Along with 
other statements covering disputed points is the following, 
"The order to go forward was obeyed with alacrity and cheer- 
fulness for we believed the battle was practically over and 
that we had nothing to do but march unopposed to Cemetery 
Heights and occupy them." And again he says, "From the 
time the cluirge began up to this moment not a shot had been 
fired at us, nor had we been able to see because of tlie density 



44 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

of the smoke, which hung over the battle field like a pall, that 
there was an enemy in front of us. The smoke now lifted 
from our front and there right before us, scarcely tv\'0 hun 
dred yards away stood Cemetery Heights in awful grandeur." 
Here we have it upon the best authority that Pickett's divis- 
ion was not fired upon till they arrived in "rushing distance." 
It is well known that the left of the line was subjected to a 
severe artillery fire from almost the very start. Many of its 
regiments suffered greatly before the right had lost a man, 
by shot or shell, for, however comparatively harmless the 
fire of artillery may be to soldiers lying down and hugging 
the ground, it is very destructive when they are upon their 
feet. In a prize fight the object of each pugilist is to ham- 
mer the sore spot — the weak spot. In this assault the left bri- 
gade which had done indifferent fighting the first day, now did 
none at all. The enemy witnessing their conduct naturally 
concluded that the left was the weak spot and acted vigorously 
upon that conclusion. Davis' brigade which came next the Vir- 
ginia brigade which had acted so ingloriously was composed 
of the 2 and 42 Mississippi, 55 ISTorth Carolina and 11 
Mississippi. Three of these regiments had fought the first 
day, had gained a victory but with great loss. The 11th Mis- 
sissippi was on detached duty that day and though it and its 
brigade did not go quite as far in the assault as the troops 
on their right the loss in killed and wounded for this regiment 
was two hundred and two which was over sixty per cent. 
Pickett's men had ninety-one killed and wounded to the regi- 
ment or about twenty-eight per cent. When all things are 
considered, their boody fight on the first day, their standing 
up so long and so manfully this day against so terrific a fire, 
both from flank and front (as shown by their losses), it will be 
seen that it is possible that "Truth" may proclaim, that 
Davis' brigade, though they did not reacli the vicinity of the 
works, are more deserving of the palm than any other com- 
mand on the field. For it is not known positively that any 
other brigade lost on that day so large a per centage of killed 
as they. As it may appear unaccountable that, while one part 
of the line was suffering so much from artillery, another part 
hardly received a shot, it will be well to mention that the 
Federal General Doubleday states in his history that with the 
exception of one piece all guns in the immediate front of the 



Longstreet's Assault at Gettysburg. 45 

Virginia division were dismounted by our shelling, and also 
that the Virginia Confederate, Colonel Wood, says the smoke 
was so dense that he could not see the enemy till he came in 
two hundred yards of them. 

If he could not see them they could not see him and his 
people. Therefore if the enemy in their front neither had 
the guns nor could see the Virginians if they had possessed 
them, it is not so wonderful they did not kill them. It will 
be admitted that armies are organized for the purpose of in- 
flicting injury upon the enemies of their country and that 
they and their sub-divisions are to be valued in proportion to 
their killing capacity. Xow it has been estimated that in 
the civil war Southern soldiers inflicted a loss of about forty 
per cent, greater than they sustained. Therefore if one 
should wish to ascertain which of the different organizations 
of the Army of :N'orthern Virginia gave the best evidence of 
fidelity and efficiency let him consult the casualty lists, con- 
tained in the ''Official Becords' published by the U. S. 
Government. In these he will find no partizanship, no 
sickly sentiment and no effort to make the wrong appear the 
right ; but he will find a true story plainly told. 

And now in conclusion, I will say that to thoughful and 
unprejudiced readers the strength of the evidence I have 
cited to prove the heroic conduct of those men in the left 
divisions will be, I think, the measure of their surprise and 
amazement that any of the comrades of these soldiers should 
have conspired to injure them. 

Wm. R. Bond. 

Scotland Neck, N. C, 

25 August, 1904. 



FoWnssf. 



Sheridan. 





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C H I C K /»( 

Map Bhowing position of the 39th, 58th, and 60th North Carolina Reri 




^^j;j.**u 







1^ A U G A 

jients at different hours on the 19th and 20th of September, 1863 



FARTHEST TO THE FRO/^T AT 
CHICKAMAUGfl." 



By judge a. C. AVERY. 



North Carolina sent more soldiers to Virginia than any 
other of the Confederate States. The State furnished four 
regiments of infantry and one of cavalry to the army of Ten- 
nessee — a smaller representation than that of any State of 
the Confederacy, except Virginia, which sent only two regi- 
ments of infantry, the 63 Virginia of Kelly's Brigade, Pres- 
ton's Division, and the 54: Virginia of Trigg's Brigade, same 
Division, and Jeffries' Battery of Preston's Artillery Battal- 
ion, though two Virginia Batteries, Parker's and Taylor's 
of Col. Alexander's Corps, were sent with Longstreet to Chick- 
amauga, according to the Roster published in the Official Rec- 
ords, Series 1, Vol. XXX, Part II, pages 11 to 17. Four 
other Regiments of North Carolina Infantry had seen service 
in Tennessee, two, the 62nd and 61th, were surrendered by 
Frasier at Cumberland Gap, and two had been transferred to 
Western North Carolina. Every North Carolina Regiment 
was assigned to a different division and no two of them fought 
in the same corps at Chickamauga, except the 39 N. C. of 
Johnson's Division, McNair's Brigade (commanded by 
Colonel David Coleman of North Carolina) and the 58 North 
Carolina of Kelly's Brigade, Preston's Division, both of Buck- 
ner's corps. The 60 N. C. Regiment was in Stovall's Bri- 
gade, Breckenridge's Division, Hill's corps. The 29 N. C. 
Regiment fought in Ector's Brigade, Gist's Division, Walk- 
er's corps. The 6 North Carolina Cavalry (65 N. C. 
Regiment) Colonel George N, Folk, participated in the en- 
gagement on 18 and 19 Sept., as a part of Davidson's Bri- 
gade, Pegram's Division, Forest's Corps. 

It was claimed by an adopted son of North Carolina, who 
was a Federal soldier, fighting in the Brigade, which con- 
fronted the 58 and 60 North Carolina, when each of them 
made itself most conspicuous in attacking Thomas' Corps at 
Chicamauga, that North Carolina troops reached the farthest 



48 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

point attained bj the Confederate State troops. The inex- 
orable logic of the Bible is found, where it assumed, that the 
unwilling testimony of its enemies was the highest evidence 
of divine truth. Scarcely less convincing ought to be a trib- 
ute from a brave but generous foe to an enemy ; whose daring 
aroused that "stern joy which warriors feel in foemen worthy 
of their steel." Captain C. A. Cilley, of the 2 Minne- 
sota, was detached as topographical engineer on the staff of 
Colonel Van Derveer, commanding a brigade of Brannou's 
(third) Division of Major General Thomas' (Fourteenth) 
Army Corps and was mentioned in complimentary terms in 
the reports of both Brigade and Division and Corps Command- 
ers, by Col. Van Derveer as an officer, "whose conduct for 
efficiency, personal vourage and at every stage of the conflict, 
was deserving of more than praise," and by General Brannon, 
for directing two Indiana regiments, in successfully covering 
the retreat of his division. (See Official Records, Series 1, 
Vol. XXX, part 1, pp. 423, 431, 433.) 

Those who have examined the battlefield of Chickamauga, 
and followed and studied the movements of troops, must 
agree, that if Breckenridge's Division of Hill's Corps could 
have held the Lafayette and Chattanooga road, when Stovall's 
and Adam's Brigades of that Division crossed on the left and 
rear of Thomas's corps, before 12 o'clock, on 20 Sep- 
tember, 1863, the stronghold of the enemy at Snodgrass Hill 
would have been turned, placing Hill between Thomas and 
Rossville and the whole Federal forces in Longstreet's front 
must have been in full retreat or captured before the middle 
of the afternoon. Had Walker's Corps or Cheatham's Divis- 
ion moved forward, as a second supporting line, closely after 
Hill's line, instead of being held in reserve and subsequently 
sent forward in single lines to be broken in detail, such would 
have been the inevitable result, as was shown, when the 
advance in two lines, just before night, forced Thomas to fall 
back, with a loss of several thousand prisoners. In fact 
Bragg's plan of battle was to gain the LaFayette road beyond 
Rosecrans' left (See Boynton's Chickamauga Military Park, 
pp. 97, 44, 45, 4Y.) 

The 60 North Carolina Regiment, with the 43 and 4 Flor- 
ida and the 47 Georgia composed Stovall's Brigade (See Se- 
ries 1, Vol. XXX, Part II, Official Records, at p. 13, Stovall's 



Farthest to the Front at Chtckamauga. 49 

Report at p. 231 and Breckenridge's Report at p. 199). This 
Brigade, General Breckenridge said, flanked the enemy and 
swept down the Lafayette road, its right resting in that road 
and Adams' brigade extending the line beyond it. General 
Breckenridge, describing the situation at the time, said, "Sto- 
vall's Brigade gained a point beyond the angle of the enemy's 
works. Adams had advanced still further, being actually in 
rear of his esntrenchments. * * * * ^ good supporting 
line to my division, at this moment would probably have pro- 
duced decisive results." (See same volume. Report of Stovall, 
p. 231, and Weaver's report, p. 238.) 

Stovall's Brigade drove back two lines, and then changed 
front. Colonel Ray, commanding the 60 IST. C. fell severely 
wounded, but Captain Weaver held his position, with his 
right resting on the Lafayette road, until the Florida regi- 
ment on his left had been driven back by a flank fire from the 
line, that had repulsed and killed Helm, and the Forty-Sev- 
enth Georgia had been enfiladed and had retired from its 
right. The 60 jSTorth Carolina, with its right on the La- 
fayette road, in the most advanced location, was the last of 
Breckenridge's Division to fall back. 

Our commissioners appointed under the Act of Congress to 
mark the positions of I^. C. regiments, reported, through Col. 
C. A. Cilley as Secretary, 3 Xovember, 1893 (See 5 Clark's 
Regimental Histories, 169). After a careful examination of 
maps and comparison of reports, including those of Major- 
General Brannon of Thomas' Corps and Col. Van Derveer, 
commanding the Third Brigade of that Division (See Series 
I, Vol. XXX, Part T, War Records at pp. 429, 430) it was 
left to Lieutenant General Stewart to designate the furthest 
point reached by the 60 Xorth Carolina Regiment. General 
Boynton, of the Park Commission, commanded the §5 
Ohio of Van Derveer's Brigade, which met the advance of 
Stovall at this point, and Captain Cilley, of our Commis- 
sion, who served on the Brigade staff, were on the ground and 
aided in the location. Colonel Cilley, for the Commission, 
reported in part as follows : "The result was that an oaken 
tablet, suitably inscribed, was put up on the side of the road 
marking it as a spot, where the Sixtieth Xorth Carolina In- 
4 



50 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

fantry, at noon 20 September, reached the furthest point 
-attained hy Confederate Troops in that famous charge." 

In answer to a recent letter of inquiry the writer received 
the following reply from Lieutenant-General Stewart, Park 
Commissioner : 

i/-««fe I .^ ' ' ^ ■ "29 July, 1904. 

Hon. a. C. Avery, Morganton, N. C. 

Dear Sir : — The North Carolina Commission for this Park, 
visited it a few years since. I was present when the position 
of the GO Regiment X. C. Infantry was marked, at the north 
end of the Kelly held. This Regiment formed a part of 
Stovall's Brigade, Breckenridge's Division, D. H. Hill's 
Corps: The route pursued by the Brigade on Sunday, 20 
Sept., '63 is well established and the extreme point reached by 
the regiment in its ad^^ance, was marked, after very careful 
examination of the ground and position and is, no doubt, 
correctly located." 

Very truly yours, 

Alex P. Stewart, 

Commissioner." 

General Boynton (The Chickamauga National Park Com- 
jnission, pp. 202-204) says, that Stovall had driven John Beat- 
ty's line steadily back, Stanly's Brigade had withdrawn from 
Adam's front, and "the situation was growing desperate," 
when Van Derveer's Brigade (in which Bo\mton and Cilley 
were serving) came upon the scene. He says, "Stovall and 
Adams being unsupported , were repulsed and forced back 
around the union left and the position was saved/' 

The foregoing quotations show that, at a crisis, when to 
hold the position won by the Sixtieth meant victory at noon, 
the saving of thousands of lives, and the reoccupation of Chat- 
tanooga, that Regiment was the last to leave the vantage 
ground, and would never have receded, had Walker advanced, 
as a support to Breckenridge, instead of being ordered to 
stand idle till after the repulse of the first line. The battle 
fields of the 19th and 20th are covered with enduring monu- 
ments to the Troops of Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and 
Missouri, though they do not compare Avith the costly shafts 
reared by Northern States. The point attained by the 60 



Farthest to the Front at Chickamauga. 51 

North Carolina liegiment is marked by an inscription on a 
board, nailed to a telegraph pole, standing beside the Lafayette 
road. This "wooden tablet" has already done duty as a 
monument more than ten years. 

The 39 North Carolina Regiment, General Bushrod John- 
son's Di'tision, was the first infantry of Bragg's Army to 
cross the Chickamauga. He, with McNair's Brigade, in- 
cluding the 39 North Carolina, crossed at Reed's bridge, 
and at a ford just above it, and advanced a mile west of 
Jay's saw-mill (the point from which Cleburn's right 
moved forward on the afternoon of the next day), and 
then swept up the Chickamauga for two and one half miles, 
clearing the way for the other troops to cross. By reference 
to the reports of Major-General Bushrod Johnson and of Col. 
David Coleman, of the 39 North Carolina, commanding 
McNair's Brigade, on 20 September (Official Records, Series 
1, Vol. XXX, Part II, pp. 454 and 499), it will appear that 
being ordered to advance upon the enemy, about 12 M., on 
19 September, in support of Grigg's Brigade, Colonel 
Coleman, in command of the 39 North Carolina, and 
the 25 Arkansas Regiment (Lieut. -Colonel Huffsteller), find- 
ing Grigg's line checked, passed over a portion of it, charged 
the enemy and drove them three-fourths of a mile across the 
Chattanooga road, when being unsupported and almost out 
of communication, they became subject to a cross fire, and 
were ordered by Col. Coleman to fall back to the main line. 

These regiments were the first to cross the Chattanooga 
road, after the fighting began, and advanced further to the 
front on the 19th than any other trQt)ps went in the attack on 
Rpsecrans' centre before noon of the 20th. Brig. -General 
Trigg, according to his own report (in the same volume at 
p. 430) was detained two hours after 12 M., 19 September, 
and executed several maneuvers under conflicting orders, 
and then moved forward, until he "came near a corn-field, in 
which the enemy had a battery, protected by earth-works, 
near the Chattanooga road." This battery was almost at that 
road, as appears by the tablets erected by the Park Commis- 
sioners. General Buckner made no report of the conduct of 
Johnson's Division, because it had been previously detached 
from his corps. General Boynton (at pp. 38 and 39 of his 
book) confirms Coleman by stating that Johnson's troops 



52 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

were enfiladed by Wilder, when they crossed that road on the 
19th. 

It is an admitted historical fact, that fifteen Federal guns 
were captured in the advance, in Dyer's field, where the 
centre of Rosecrans was broken, about 12 o'clock on 20 Sep- 
tember. The map, showing the movements of Johnston's 
Division (Ofiicial Records, Series 1, Vol. XXX, Part II, 
p. 469) shows the position of six guns captured near the 
Chattanooga road and nine captured a half mile further on 
higher ground, in Dyer's field on the 20th. The Federal 
tablets show the loss of fifteen guns, in the advance of John- 
son's Division over Dyer's field. 

Col. Coleman, who assumed command, when McNair fell, 
soon after the forward movement began, (same volume of 
Ofiicial Records last cited, at p. 500) claims, that he captured 
"ten pieces, eight of which were sent with their remaining 
horses to the rear." The State Commissioners, with the aid 
of the Park Commissioners, arrived at the conclusion, that 
Coleman's regiment captured nine pieces, the troops on his 
left six pieces. He was a graduate of Annapolis, and after 
seeing service with the United States ISTavy at Vera Cruz, in 
Mexico, resigned his command and read law, gained prom- 
inence in his profession and established the character of a 
chivalrous gentleman. He was not mistaken as to sending 
eight guns to the rear. With six deserted guns not very far 
away, he may well have been mistaken in supposing two in- 
stead of one was left. Coleman's Brigade and regiment 
had been sent to Mississippi, when Johnson's report was 
made. Gregg's Brigade (composed of Tennesseeans and 
Texans) evidently captured the other six pieces, but the cap- 
ture of the nine pieces posted on an eiuinence was the fea- 
ture of the charge, which broke the enemy's centre and opened 
the way to assail his natural fortress, Snodgrass Hill, from 
the South. 

Col. Cilley (5 Clark's Regimental Histories, p. 171) says, 
that, after studying maps and reports on the night before, 
the ]^orth Carolina Commissioners with the Commissioners of 
the Park, Generals Boynton and Stewart, repaired to the 
field next day and walked up the long slope of Dyer's Hill, 
over which ten or twelve Divisions had fought, and a second 
comparison of all the evidence available, made on the very 



Farthest to the Front at Chickamauga. 53 

spot of the conflict, so plainly showed the justice of Colonel 
Coleman's claim, that our commissioners were directed to 
"drive down a stake, marked with the regiment's name, the 
date and fact of the exploit, at the location contended for." 
The stake is gone. But we may justly claim for Col. Cole- 
man's regiment, that his men have erected a monument more 
enduring than brass to commemorate their conspicvious cour- 
age. 

In a letter received from him, after the foregoing was 
written. Gen. Boynton says, after mentioning other matters, 

"In regard to the division of the 15 guns, captured by 
Sugg's brigade and partly MclSTair's brigade, commanded by^ 
Colonel Coleman, this commission has never received any 
more definite information upon that subject than is set forth 
in the reports of Greneral Bushrod Johnson, Colonel Sugg 
and his adjutant and Colonel Coleman, commanding McNair's 
brigade. From these reports it is evident, that both these 
brigades participated in the capture of these 15 guns, one 
claiming 10 and the other 8. As the difference between these 
figures and the number captured is only three, neither claim 
can be much out of the way, and the part taken 'by each bri- 
gade was undoubtedly of the most creditable character." 

As will appear later in this article, the 39 ^t. c. was, 
as a part of McN'air's Brigade, in the charge of Bushrod 
Johnson and Hindman's Division, which onset first broke the 
centre of Rosecrans' last line of defence upon the Ridge west 
of Snodgrass Hill, near the Viditoe House, about four P. 
M., 20 September. 

The 58 Forth Carolina Regiment was organized in the 
summer of 1863 ; but had never participated in a great 
battle before the afternoon of 20 September, 1863. Pres- 
ton's Division, on the afternoon of that day, at 4 P. M., was 
ordered to move from its place in the reserve line at the junc- 
tion of the Tanyard road with the Lafayette road, cross the 
bloody Dyer field and relieve Kershaw, who had been vainly 
assaulting the position of Brannon ; on the south side of the 
protruding knob of Snodgrass Hill, called by the enemy the 
Horseshoe. In executing the order, Gracie's brigade was on 
his right, Kelly's in his centre and Triggs on the left. The 
Fifty-Eighth on the right of Kelly encountered in the charge 
Van Derveer's brigade, near the intersection of the Horse- 



54 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

shoe with the main ridge, which extended south and was de- 
fended by Steadman's Division of Granger's Corps. The right 
of Palmer's 58th extended some distance along the Horseshoe 
stronghold, while his left was on the ridge. It reached the 
farthest point in the charge about 5 P. M. A little more than 
an hour before Bushrod Johnson's Division, including the 39 
'N. C, in McNair's Brigade, and a part of Hindman's Divis- 
ion had broken the enemy's line, near the Viditoe house, 
some distance to the left and north, Rosecrans was cut 
off by this movement and fell back to McFarland's gap with 
his command, except Thomas's Corps and a part of Granger's, 
which still held their positions. Such was the situation when 
the Fifty-Eighth, on the right of Kelly's brigade, advanced to 
a point within 15 or 20 steps and its left within 50 yards of 
Van Derveer's line. The left maintained its position at this 
distance during the engagement lasting two hours. The reg- 
iment behind its log breastworks in its front was the 35 Ohio 
commanded by Lieut. Colonel Boynton (now General Boyn- 
ton of the Commission), (See Boynton's report, Series 1, 
Vol. XXX, Part 1, p. 436, Official Records.) 

Grade's brigade failed in its assault on the Horseshoe, 
and in its retreat left the right of the 58 X. C. exposed to an 
enfilade fire till Robertson's Texans took its place. The right 
of the 58th was then dra^vn back, to avoid the enfilade fire, 
to a distance of about 40 yards from Boynton's front. Its left 
remained steadfast till Steadman gave way and Boynton with- 
drew, when the regiment was ordered to the left of Kelly's 
brigade and joined Triggs in cutting off and capturing several 
regiments, (See Boynton's report, supra, p. 436.) Colonel 
Palmer estimated the distance of his right from the enemy at 
10 or 12 feet. (See Official Records, ^Series 1, Vol. XXX, 
Part II, p. 445). 

Some Confederate regiment advanced to within 12 or 
20 steps of Boynton, because Boynton and Cilley, both saw 
them from the breastworks, but they could not identify them. 
Palmer claimed the honor for his regiment, Kelly corroborat- 
ed his statement, and no one has disputed the claim. 

The Xorth Carolina Commission, for whom Colonel Cilley 
reported, was composed of three soldiers of the 58 X. C, one 
of whom, Lieut.-Col. I. H. Bailey, a man of high character and 
who has represented his district creditably, in the State Sen- 



Farthest to the Front at Chickamauga. 55 

ate, confirms the statement in his history of the regiment (3 
Clark's Regimental Histories, p. 431) as to its proximity to the 
foe. The other two, Lieut. D. F. Baird and Mr. Davis sustain 
equally as good reputations. These three men located the Fifty- 
Eighth, in the charging and fighting line, where Boynton and 
Cilley saw a Confederate regiment advance and stand. Two 
distinguished Federal officers determined the position. Three 
Confederate officers of unquestioned character identify the 
troops, that occupied the ground. All of the reports place 
Palmer's regiment on the right of Kelly, and inform us that 
Gracie gave way, leaving his right exposed, from the very 
nature of the ground, to an enfilade fire from the line extend- 
ing east along the Horseshoe, until it was slightly drawn 
back. 

In a letter addressed to the writer of this article dated 15 
August, 1904, General Boynton, after expressing his con- 
currence with General Stewart in the opinion, that the point 
to which the Sixtieth advanced, is correctly marked by the 
wooden tablet, says that the Park Commissioners do not know 
the exact point occupied by the 58 ISTorth Carolina, but that 
the steel tablet erected by the Park Commission indicates 
the extreme point reached by Kelly's brigade. Gneral Boyn- 
ton says further, 

"My own impression is, indeed it is more than an impres- 
sion, that whatever regiment occupied the position on the 
Kelly line of the present tablet, was certainly no further than 
40 yards to the front of my own regiment, which at that 
moment held the right of Van Derveer's brigade." 

Colonel Kelly, in his report, (Series 1, Vol. XXX, Part 
II, pp. 438, 439, Official Records), says that the 58th was on 
his right and that the right of his brigade charged to within 
15 or 20, the center 40 and the left 60 yards of the enemy. 
Kelly gives the formation of his three regiments as follows, 
the 58th on his right, 5th Kentucky on his left, and the 65th 
Georgia in the centre. 

Colonel Cilley reported, in part, that 

"After the fullest discussion, careful examination of ]n'int- 
ed and verbal testimony, inspection and measurement of 
ground, the point where the topmost wave of the tide of South- 
ern battle hrol'e nearer tJian any other to the unbrolcen lines 



56 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

of Thomas' defense, was agreed by us all to have been reach- 
ed by the 58 North Carolina Infantry." 

One-half of the soldiers of this untried regiment fell, and 
during three hours of continuous fighting, it maintained its 
place at the forefront, making only a slight change of part of 
its front to conform to the line of the enemy. 

Boynton's map of Kelly Field and Snodgrass Hill, on the 
afternoon of 20 Sept., (See Chicamauga Military Park, 
page 51), shows the position of Preston's division (including 
the 58 N. C), at 4 P. M. and locates it later, at 4:30 P. M., 
as moving up to the position from which Kershaw was driven 
back. 

We submit that the evidence, from both fighting lines, shows 
that the right of Kelly's brigade charged furthest to the front 
and that the 58 N, C. was on its right. 

It remains only to mention the conduct of the 29 N. C. 
Regiment (Infantry) and the 65 IST. C. Regiment (6 Cav.) 

The Cavalry Regiment, as a part of Davidson's brigade, 
Armstrong's Division, Forest's Corps, fought bravely in 
advance of our troops on the first day, the 18th, and when 
the cavalry encountered, not only AVilder's mounted infantry, 
but the brigade of Van Derveer, which won greater distinc- 
tion than any other troop in Rosecrans' army, the 29 N. 
C. met them, and exhibited courage, if not dash, in effect- 
ing a crossing of the river. 

Unfortunately for the 29 N". C, the report of General Ector, 
refd^rred to in Gist's report, was never published, and Colonel 
Creasman of that regiment probably made no report of its 
conduct at Chickamauga. General Walker said, however : 

"General Ector is absent, his brigade having. been ordered 
to Mississippi, and I have no report from him, but his brigade 
acted with the greatest gallantry," (Official Records, Series 
1, Vol. XXX, Part II, pp. 240, 246, 247). 

Apologizing for its length, I respectfully submit tlie fore- 
going, with the hope, that those who may be led by it to search 
diligently for the truth, will be fully satisfied, that Xorth 
Carolina has claimed for her contingent in the Army of Ten- 
nessee no greater distinction than they justly won. 

The writer participated in the battle of Chickamauga, 
though he has not deemed it proper or necessary to state facts 
within his own knowledge, when official documents abundant- 



Farthest to the Front at Chickamauga. 57 

ly establish our contentions. There was but one ISTorth Caro- 
lina regiment (60 N". C.) in Hill's Corps, of which he was 
Acting Assistant Inspector General. He placed Cleborne 
in position on the 19th and again on the 20th before the ad- 
vance of his Division. He delivered a message to Forest 
just before the final advance of Hill on the right on 
Sunday evening, and galloped back to the lines in time 
to go forward with General Breckenridge to the Chat- 
tanooga road, but crossed that road with the Kentucky 
brigade, not with Stovall's brigade. He did not witness per- 
sonally the conduct of the 60 IST. C, or any other of the ISTorth 
Carolina Regiments. He has recently examined carefully 
every part of the Park, and satisfied himself of the truth of 
what he has written. The accompanying map was drawn 
by W. E. Walton, a civil engineer under his supervision, with 
aid from the map of Gen. Boynton by his permission and 
those published in the "Ofiicial Records" by U. S. Govern- 
ment. 

It is not improper to add, that the writer is under obligation 
to Captain H. H. Chambers, now a prominent Attorney of 
the Chattanooga Bar, but a native of North Carolina who won 
distinction as Captain of Co. C, 49 IvT. C. Regiment (See 3 
"Clark's Regimental Histories," pp. 132, 144), for efiicient 
assistance in the survey of the battle field and in tracing the 
movements of our regiments. 

A. C. Avery. 

MORGANTON, N. C, 

25 August, 1904. 



.^ 4'i 



\ 









■rj.- . «» '^ -^ .,, 





c t> e A /t u 



C 4., f^ortff f ^ 



The Last Voh 



Or 










7-/? O O <*_£_ 



at Appomattox 



THE LAST AT APPOMATTOX." 



By henry a. LONDON, Co. I, 33ndN. C. REGIMENT and COURIER 
TO MAJOR-GENERAL BRYAN GRIMES. 



North Carolina proudly boasts that she was "The Last at 
Appomattox" because : 

1. A IsTorth Carolinian, Major-General Bryan Grimes, 
planned the last battle fought there and commanded the in- 
fantry engaged therein, the greater part of which were ISTorth 
Carolina troops. 

2. A North Carolina Brigade, commanded by General W. 
E. Cox, made the last charge and fired the last volley of any 
organized body of Confederates immediately preceding the 
surrender. 

3. A detachment of North Carolina troops from the 4th 
and 14th regiments did the last fighting of any infantry after 
the withdrawal of the main body of the infantry. 

4. North Carolina troops (Roberts' Brigade of cavalry) 
captured the last cannon that were captured by the Army 
of Northern Virginia at Appomattox. 

In sustaining this proud claim by indisputable proof 
North Carolina is fortunate in having the full and 
clear statements written by Major-General Bryan Grimes 
and Brigadier-General W. R. Cox only a few years 
after the war, which are as authentic as ofiicial re- 
ports could be. These statements were published twen- 
ty-five years ago and no person has ever denied their 
entire accuracy and truthfulness. Before they were publish- 
ed they were submitted to this writer for correction or revisal 
(twenty-five years ago when the incidents of the surrender 
were fresh in memory) and from personal knowledge I knew 
them to be true and correct. 

The first evidence offered is the statement written by 
General Grimes in the year 1879 and published in Volume 
II of Moore's History of North Carolina, from which is cop- 
ied the following extract : 

"On Saturday, the 8th, no enemy appeared, and we march- 
ed undisturbed all day. Up to this time, since the evacua- 



60 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

tion of Petersburg, we had marched daj and night, continual- 
ly followed and harrassed by the enemy. The men were very 
much jaded and suilering for necessary sustenance, our. halts 
not having been sufficiently long to prepare their food, besides 
all our cooking utensils not captured or abandoned were where 
we could not reach them. This day Bushrod Johnson's Divis- 
ion was assigned to and placed under my command, by order 
of General Lee. Upon passing a clear stream of water and 
learning that the other divisions of the corps had gone into 
camp some two miles ahead, I concluded to halt and give my 
broken down men an opportunity to close up and rejoin us, 
and sent a message to Major-General John B. Gordon, com- 
manding the Corps, making known my whereabouts, inform- 
ing him I would be at any point he might designate at any 
hour desired. 

''By dark my men were all quiet and asleep. About 9 
o'clock I heard the roar of artillery in our front and in con- 
sequence of information received, I had my command aroused 
in time and passed through the town of Appomattox Court 
House before daylight, where, upon the opposite side of the 
town, I found the enemy in my front. Throwing out my 
skirmishers and forming line of battle, I reconnoitered and 
satisfied myself as to their position, and awaited the arrival 
of General Gordon for instructions, who, a while before day, 
accompanied by General Fitz Lee, came to my position, when 
we held a council of war. General Gordon was of the opinion 
that the troops in our front were cavalry, and that General 
Fitz Lee should attack. Fitz Lee thought they were infantry 
and that General Gordon should attack. They discussed the 
matter so long that I became impatient, and said it was some- 
body's duty to attack, and that immediately, and T felt satis- 
fied that they could be driven from the cross roads occupied 
by them, which was the route it was desirable our wagon train 
should pursue, and that I would undertake it ; whereupon 
Gordon said, "Well, drive them off." I replied "I cannot do 
it with my division alone, but require assistance." He then 
SLid, "You can take the two other divisions of the Corps." 
By this time it was becoming sufficiently light to make the 
surrounding localities visible. I then rode down and invited 
General Walker, who commanded a division on mv left, com- 



The Last at Appomattox. 61 

posed principally of Virginians,* to ride with me, showing 
him the position of the enemy and explaining to him my views 
and plan of attack. He agreed with me as to its advisability. 
I did this because I felt that I had assumed a great responsi- 
bility when I took upon myself the charge of making the 
attack. I then made dispositions to dislodge the Federals 
from their positions, placing Bushrod Johnson's Division 
upon my right, with instructions to attack and take the enemy 
in the flank, while my division skirmishers charged in front, 
where temporary earthworks had been thrown up by the 
enemy, their cavalry holding the crossings of the roads with 
a battery. I soon perceived a disposition on their part to 
attack this division in flank. I rode back and threw our right 
so as to take advantage of some ditches and fences to obstruct 
the cavalr}^ if they should attempt to make a charge. In the 
mean time the cavalry of Fitz Lee were proceeding by a 
circuitous route to get in rear of these cross roads. The 
enemy observing me placing these troops in position, fired 
upon me with four pieces of artillery. I remember well the 
appearance of the shell, and how directly they came towards 
me, exploding and completely enveloping me in smoke. I 
then gave the signal to advance, at the same time Fitz Lee 
charged those posted at the cross roads, when my skirmishers 
attacked the breastworks, which were taken without much 
loss on my part, also capturing several pieces of artillery and 
>a large number of prisoners, I at the same time moving the 
division up to the support of the skirmishers in echelon by 
brigades, driving the enemy in confusion for three-quarters of 
a mile beyond the range of hills covered with* oak under- 



* Gen. Grimes was mistaken in saying tbat the division commanded by 
Gen. Walker was "composed principally of Virginians ". It was com- 
posed principally of North Carolinans. one-fourth of that division being 
Virginians and three-fourths being North Carolinians. This is mentioned 
by Judge Montgomery on page 260, Vol. V., Clark's Regimental Histories, 
and is proved by the parole list published on page 1277 of Serial No. 95, of 
"The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies". It will 
there be seen that Walker's division was composed of Pegram's Virginia 
brigade with 304 officers and men and R. D. Johnston's North Carolina 
brigade with 463 and Lewis's North Carolina brigade with 447. So that, 
in Walker's division there were 910 North Carolinians and 304 Virginians 
paroled at Appomattox. h. a. l. 



62 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

growth. I then learned from the prisoners that my right 
flank was threatened. Halting my troops I placed the skirm- 
ishers, commanded by Colonel J. R. Winston, Forty-fifth 
North Carolina Troops, in front, about one hundred yards 
distant, to give notice of indications of attack. I placed Cox's 
Brigade which occupied the right of the division at right 
angles to the other troops, to watch that flank. The other 
divisions of the Corps (Walker's and Evans') were on the 
left. I then sent an ofiicer to General Gordon, announcing our 
success, and that the Lynchburg road was open for the escape 
of the wagons, and that I awaited orders. Thereupon I re- 
ceived an order to withdraw, which I declined to do, suppos- 
ing that General Gordon did not understand the commanding 
position which my troops occupied. He continued to send 
me order after order to the same effect, which I still disregard- 
ed, being under the impression that he did not comprehend 
our favorable location, until finally, I received a message 
from him, with an additional one, as coming from General 
Lee, to fall back. I felt the difficulty of withdrawing with- 
out disaster and ordered Colonel J. R. Winston, commandino; 
the skirmish line which had been posted in. my front on first 
reaching these hills, to conform his movements to those of the 
division, and to move by the left flank so as to give notice of an 
attack from that quarter. I then ordered Cox to maintain his 
position in line of battle, and not to show himself until our rear 
was one hundred yards distant, and then to fall back in line of 
battle, so as to protect our rear and right flank from assault. 
I then instructed Major Peyton, of my staff, to start the left 
in motion, and I continued with the rear. 

"The enemy upon seeing us move off, rushed out from 
under cover with a cheer, when Cox's brigade, lying concealed 
at the brow of the hill, rose and flred a volley into them, which 
drove them back into the woods, the brigade then followed 
their retreating comrades in line of battle unmolested. After 
proceeding about half the distance to the position occupied by 
us in the morning, a dense mass of the enemy in column 
(infantry), appeared on our right, and advanced, without 
firing, towards the earthworks captured by us in the early 
morning, when a battery of our artillery opened with grape 
?nd canister and drove them under the shelter of the woods. 

"As my troops approached their position of the morning. 



The Last at Appomattox. 63 

I rode up to General Gordon and asked where I should form 
line of battle. He replied, "Anywhere you choose." Struck 
by the strangeness of the reply, I asked an explanation, where- 
upon he informed me that we would be surrendered." 

In corroboration of General Grimes is the statement writ- 
ten in 1879 by Brigadier-General William R. Cox and pub- 
lished in Volume II of Moore's History of North Carolina 
and rewritten without any material change in 1901 'and pub- 
lished in Vol. IV of Clark's Regimental Sketches. General 
Cox's statement is as follows : 

"The army now reduced to two cor^^s under Generals Long- 
street and Gordon, moved over wretched roads steadily to- 
wards Appomattox Court House, our purpose being to reach 
Danville. By great effort the head of the column reached 
Appomattox Court House on the evening of the 8th and the 
troops were halted for rest. During the night there were 
indications of a large force moving on our left and front. 
Besides his own division General Grimes was put in command 
of the remnants of Bushrod Johnson's Division and Wise's 
Brigade. Just before daylight Gordon moved his command 
through the village and was supported by Fitz Lee's cavalry 
on his right. At 5 o'clock a. m. I received an order that on 
the firing of a cannon the division would move forward. * 

***** The division had not proceeded 
far before Cook's and Cox's Brigades were exposed to a mur- 
derous artillery fire, but, instead of halting and recoiling, 
they promptly charged and captured it. The engagement 
now became general along our front, and our cavalry, though 
worn down by incessant duties on the retreat, gallantly and 
bravely supported us on the right. The struggle, however, 
was unequal. The pistol and carbine were ineffective against 
the Enfield range and destructive "buck and ball", and but 
few infantry were supporting them. Retiring slowly at first 
their retreat soon became a rout as they hastened to their in- 
fantry supports in the woods, while riderless horses galloped 
over the fields where lay their wounded and dying. An in- 
fantry captain was captured and brought before me, and 'he 
gave me the first information that General Ord with ten thou- 
sand infantry was in our front. Upon taking a commanding 
position I ordered a halt, when many columns of infantry 



64 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

were seen advancing, evidently with the intention of captur- 
ing us. Firing was now resumed, when General Grimes 
directed me through his courier, H. A. London, to withdraw. 
The armistice had evidently been agreed to, but I did not 
anticipate it. Still contesting the field I retired slowly. 
The enemy seeing the movement hastened their advance with 
the evident purpose of surrounding us and moved so rapidly 
as to make some ruse necessary to check their zeal. In this 
emergency, through an aide, James S. Battle, I ordered the 
regimental commanders of Cox's Brigade to meet me at the 
centre as we retired. I then directed their attention to a 
gradually rising hill between us and the advancing columns of 
the enemy, and directed that they face their regiments about 
and at a double quick charge to the crest of the hill, and before 
the enemy should recover from their surprise, halt, fire by 
brigade, and then "with like rapid movement face about and 
rejoin the division. Raising the ''rebel yell" the brigade with 
celerity and precision, promptly and faultlessly executed the 
order and having gained the brow of the hill, the enemy an- 
ticipating a determined struggle, commenced to deploy and 
prolong their line as if on parade. But before the movement 
was fully executed the command rang along the Confederate 
line clear and distinct above the din of battle, "Halt, ready, 
aim, fire!" And while the encircling troops were surprised 
and stunned by the audacity of the charge and the unusual 
character of the fire, the brigade safely withdrew and regain- 
ed the division, which in the meantime had been skirmishing 
as it withdrew. General Gordon, superbly mounted, as we 
passed by exclaimed, "Grandly and gloriously done!" 

"this was the last charge of the army of 

northern VIRGINIA."' 

According to the above statements of Generals Grimes and 
Cox, written in 1879, and published without any contradic- 
tion from any source for more than twenty years, the last 
charge made and the last volley fired at Appomattox by any 
organized brigade of infantry was by Cox's North Carolina 
Brigade. Their statements are true of my own personal 
knowledge. 

General Cox in his statement further says that "an irregu- 



The Last at Appomattox. 65 

lar exchange of fire was for sometime maintained" by some 
of his skirmishers who were covering his retreat and did "not 
perceive or understand the fiag of truce." In corroboration 
of this is the following statement written under date of July 
14th, 1904, by Captain W. T. Jenkins, of Halifax county, 
who was Captain of Co. A, 14th Xorth Carolina Regiment: 

"On the morning of the 9th, after a sleepless and supperless 
night, 'very early, while it was yet dark,' we were ordered to 
take up line of march in the direction of Lynchburg. We 
were marched across a creek beyond Appomattox and formed 
line of battle. We were soon ordered to advance do^^^l the 
Lynchburg road, General Cox's brigade being on the right of 
the advancing column. We were discovered by a Yankee 
battery on our left and several of our men were killed and 
wounded by the shells. We encountered the enemy in force 
at an intersection of cross roads and drove them from the field, 
and after going some distance on the left of the road we re- 
ceived orders to fall back and bring up the rear. The enemy 
soon discovered our retreat and attempted to advance and cut 
us ofi', but we charged and drove them back into the woods and 
continued our retreat in the direction of the court-house. 
When we reached the road all the troops had passed and we 
halted for our rear to come up and all get together. 

"General Cox then ordered me to take the 14th and 4th 
Regiments and hold the enemy in check until he could get 
his command to the rear, and send back some horses and have 
a battery of artillery moved which had been left on the road. 
I then advanced the two regiments down the road and formed 
line of battle, the 4th on tlie right with left resting on the 
road, and the 14th on the left and connecting with the 4th. 
We were soon hotly engaged and pressed back, and not wish- 
ing to lose all our men and colors T went to the 4th and or- 
dered tliem to fall back in good order, and then gave the 14th 
the same order. I then called for volunteers from the 14th 
regiment to take ]iosition behind some houses nearby and 
hold the enemy in check until the two regiments had gotten 
to the rear. About 25 of our men responded promptly and 
we s")on opened a heavy fire and made a big racket so that 
the ^ ankees did not know onr strength. 

"\Miile fighting behind those houses two ofiicers rode up 
5 



66 Record op^ North Carolina Troops. 

some distance in our rear and asked what command was that 
fighting. We told them "General Cox's." They ordered us 
to stop firing, saying that General Lee had surrendered. 
The Yankees were then gathering all around us from right 
and left, and we saw no way of escape. So, 1 decided to 
surrender and hoisted a white flag and went out in front of 
the houses but we were fired on by the enemy. I suppose 
they did not see the white flag. Our men opened fire again 
and kept it up until we were entirely surrounded and taken 
fighting. Some of our men fired from one corner of a 
house when the enemy would come around the other. We 
were taken by Sheridan's command and carried into the Yan- 
kee lines and kept all day, and returned to our command 
about sunset. General Cox and our friends came out to 
meet us and expressed joy at our return, as they thought we 
had all been killed. After our surrender or capture we were 
taken back over the entire battlefield, and I know that there 
were no other Confederate troops anywhere on the field nor 
any more firing. . . We were taken I suppose about 12 
o'clock. I know the Yankees were eating dinner when we 
arrived in their camp, and they very kindly offered to share 
with us but we very politely declined." 

The next evidence is that of W. L. London, now the Briga- 
dier General of the second brigade in the jSTorth Carolina Di- 
vision of the United Confederate Veterans, and who was the 
Adjutant-General of Daniel's (afterwards Grimes') Brigade, 
and was serving on General Grimes' staff on the morning of 
the surrender. His written statement under date of August 
18, 1904, is as follows: 

"On the morning of the ninth of April, 1865, our Brigade 
being in line of battle. General Grimes rode by and called 
me to him saying "T want you with me this morning, I have 
undertaken to open those roads (pointing to the cross-roads 
in front of us). Your Brigade is so small it will not need 
jou at present." I then rode with him along the lines and 
just as we were near Wise's Virginia Brigade, the enemy's 
battery in our front opened on us and one of the shells struck 
just under General Grimes' horse and so enveloped him in 
smoke and dust that I thought he must be killed and rode up 
quiekly, but found him unhurt. 

"He then told me to ride back and order the line to advance. 



The Last at Appomattox. 67 

When 1 got to my old regiment (the 32nd) I called their at- 
tention to the battery in front and told them I wanted one of 
those horses, as my horse had given out. It was only a short 
time before one of the regiment came riding up to the left 
of the line on a horse from the battery for me, and I brought 
that horse home with me. I do not know who captured the 
battery but the 32nd regiment could not have been far off. 
The line of battle continued to advance and very soon a 
courier from General Grimes rode up and told General Cox 
that General Grimes said to fall back, which General Cox 
soon commenced to do. His men were in a small body of 
woods, and as soon as his Brigade commenced falling back 
and had gotten out of the woods, the enemy began to advance 
in such numbers that it looked like they were rising out of the 
ground all over the country. General Cox seeing them ad- 
vancing, ordered his Brigade to 'about-face' and, charging a 
short distance, fired a volley as one man. This was the last 
organized firing I heard that day. There were a few sharp- 
shooters protecting the rear and they may have fired some 
shots. We passed on by the court-house and found all the 
other troops ahead of us and had halted." 

The first troops to reach the battery of artillery, above re- 
ferred to, were the ]N"orth Carolina cavalry of General W. P. 
Roberts, as will be seen from the following letter written to 
him, under date of July 26, 1904, by his former Adjutant- 
General, T. S. Garnett, of Norfolk, Virginia: 

"My recollection of the capture of a battery of artillery at 
Appomattox on the morning of the 9'th of April, 1865, is 
simply this: Your Brigade was immediately on the right 
of Gordon's corps, our left joining Gordon's right and ad- 
vancing in line with the infantry. The enemy's battery of 
four Napoleon guns was immediately in our front on open 
ground, but near a body of woods towards our right. As we 
advanced the enemy fired repeatedly, their shot being directed 
chiefly at the infantry of Gordon's corps, and thus affording 
us an opportunity to get at them easily. 

"We approached the battery rapidly and got among them 
with little loss. They surrendered at once, but one gun lim- 
bered up and got away. The captain of the battery surren- 
dered to me and I took his horse from him, telling him to take 
the captured guns back to Appomattox Court-Hotise and send- 



68 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

ing Forbes (your courier) back with him. We made their 
own drivers keep their seats and drive the guns back towards 
the court-house, where, I afterwards understood, they arrived 
exactly as ordered. We pressed forward and participated 
in the continued fighting, passing over a ditch in which I saw 
the gun which had escaped capture lying overthrown and 
abandoned. Shortly after this we were ordered to fall back, 
which we did, returning over the same ground towards the 
court-house." 

In corroboration of the above is the following extract from 
a written statement, under date of June 2nd, 1904, by Mr. 
J. P. Leach, of Littleton, who was a member of Co. C, 53rd 
North Carolina Regiment: 

"Our command (Grimes' Division) passed through the 
town of Appomatox Court House between daybreak and sun- 
rise, when upon the opposite side of the to^^'n and within a few 
hundred yards of the court-house we were put in skirmish 
line on a road and rail fence. In front of the command and 
located in a piece of woods, with an open field of several 
hundred yards between, several pieces of federal artillery 
had been located and opened fire in the early morning with 
vigor and unpleasant precision. We were ordered to charge 
the battery and went forward at double-quick, but before 
going two hundred yards the guns were silenced and in a 
few moments were brought galloping toward my command, 
each gun having six horses. They wete turned over to us, 
and with others I helped to escort the captured battery to a 
point near the court-house. I trotted along on the off side of 
a brave and unconcerned "Yank" who rode one of the six 
bay horses conveying one of the captured guns. He had a 
haversack hanging on my side of his horse and I an interested 
witness to its fullness. When we halted near the court-house 
I proceeded to dislodge from the hames of the horse on my 
side the food bag of my new acquaintance. He was a stout 
man and I was a little slender and cadaverous. He raved at 
me with some cuss words, but I proceeded to open the sack 
and make fair division with him of our piece of corn beef and 
six hardtack, the first food I had had for some days. The 
drivers and artillerymen were very jovial and little concerned 
about their capture. They could see the game was up with 
the '^Johnnies". 



The Last at Appomattox. 69 

"The battery of four guns had been flanked by cavalry of 
Xxen. Wm. P. Roberts and surrendered to him before the 
infantry could reach them, a fortunate circumstance which I 
recall with lasting gratitude for the 'butter-milk' brigade." 

With the above evidence of these witnesses, one of them 
being a Major-General and another being a Brigadier-Gen- 
eral, and all except Gen. Grimes still living, North Carolina 
can safely rest her proud claim of having been "The Last At 
Appomattox." 

Henry A. London. 

PiTTSBORO, N. C, 

25 August, 1904. 



IDENTIFICATION OF LOCALITIES. 

The undersigned under instructions of the State Literary 
and Historical Association visited the battle field at Appo- 
mattox Court House on 1 October, 1904, and by per- 
sonal investigation were enabled to locate the positions 
described in the foregoing article and to corroborate the state- 
ments therein made. Appended hereto is a map of the battle- 
field and the positions of the North Carolina troops as de- 
scribed in said article, which map is correct and accurate to 
the personal knowledge of four of the undersigned who were 
present and participated in the closing scenes at Appomattox. 
H. A. London, 32 N. C. Grimes' Brigade, 
W. A. Montgomery, 12 N. C. Johnston s Brigade, 
W. T. Jenkins, IJ^ N. C. Cox's Brigade, 
A. M. Powell, 2 N. C. Cox's Brigade, 
W. J. Peele, Chmn. N. C. Historical Commission. 

Ralkigh, N C, 

5 October, 1904. 




APPOMATTOX 



THE LAST CAPTURE OF GUNS. 



By E. J. HOLT, 1st Lieut. 75 N. C, (7 Cav. 



On the night of 8 April, 1865, Roberts' N. C. Cavalry Bri- 
gade composed of the 59 and 75 N. C. (4th and 7th cavalry) 
camped on the Richmond and Lynchburg road, in a piece of 
woodland about three-fourths or one mile East of Appomattox 
Court House. About 4 A. M. the morning of the 9th we 
mounted and were marched through the village to about one- 
third of a mile West of the Court House and formed in line 
facing the South-west on the right of Grimes Division next to 
Cox's IST. C. brigade the right of that Division. We remained 
in that position, mounted, till just about sunrise. The sim 
came up to our left gloriously bright and warm and cheering 
to men worn out with cold, hunger, and loss of sleep, as we 
were. About that time a Chaplain from some regiment in 
our Division rode out in front of our brigade and made an 
earnest and fervent prayer. Soon afterwards the enemy be- 
gan shelling us with a battery a little to the left of our front 
and about 700 or 800 yards distant. The battery was in an 
open field and near to woodland on its left and rear, and was 
on very much lower land than the position held by us. 
Promptly General W. P. Roberts' Brigade, composed of what 
was left of the 59 K C. (4th Cav.) and the 75 N. C. (7th 
Cav.) — in all, I suppose, near 100 men — charged, in line, 
with drawn sabres directly upon the battery, which was sup- 
ported by a force of Sheridan's dismounted cavalry. Our 
charge was first met by shells, then grape, and then by can- 
ister and the balls from the carbines. We moved very rap- 
idly, and, the surface of the land being undulating, we were 
frequently out of sight of the battery and safe from their 
grape. When we got within about 200 yards of them they 
began to run. Some went into the woods, some took slielter 
under the gun carriages, and all quit firing. Our loss was 
very light. We captured four ISTapoleons and about fif ly men. 

As quickly as possible we took our guns and prisoivrs back 
to the point where we had first formed our line that morning, 
and proceeded at once to re-form our commands and get ready 



72 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

for other work. About the time we got in order again, one 
of the men in the 75th called my attention to a small force of 
the enemy going South-easterly down a rail fence between the 
woods and fields, at a point marked ^'C" on the map. I called 
to General Roberts and pointed them out, and after a hasty 
examination with his field glass, he ordered the 75th to charge 
and capture them. We at once drew sabres and charged in 
columns of four. The field was intersected by ditches and 
my idea was to charge in columns of fours and, when we had 
passed the last ditch, to deploy into line and then give them 
the sabre. But when we had crossed, as I thought, the last 
ditch and begun our movement to get into line, I discovered a 
large ditch just inside the field and saw at once that our horses 
could not get over the ditch and the rail fence built upon the 
earth taken from the ditch. Our Yankees quit going down 
the fence and dropped on their knees and opened on us with a 
hot fire with Spencer rifles. I saw that it was impossible to 
reach them with the sabre and gave the order to unsling car- 
bines and fire. We gave them a volley, and about that time 
my horse was killed ; and seeing the utter uselessness of our 
staying there to be butchered, with no hope of getting at our 
enemy. I gave orders to fall back. I went out on foot and was 
exposed to a warm fire for the first two hundred yards. Two 
balls cut my clothing. I ran in a North-easterly direction and 
got to the Richmond and Lynchburg road, about 200 yards 
from the Court House. While falling back T noticed there 
was no firing, either by cannon or small arms, and just before 
I got to the road I saw a party with a flag of truce going to- 
wards the Court House. I suppose it was about 9 A. M. 
And from what I know to have been done that eventful morn- 
ing, I feel sure that the 75th IST. C. (7th Cav.) was up against 
the enemy about as late as Cox's X. C. Infantry Brigade to 
our left and entitled to share in the honor of having fought as 
long as any other troops. Certainly it is beyond question 
that we ca]itured four cannon and al)out fifty men, the last 
capture that was made by that immortal army that had cap- 
tured so many men and guns in its history. 

E. J. Holt. 
Smithfield, N. C, 

7 October, 1904. 



NUMBER f\t\D LOSSES OF fiORTH 
CAROLINA TROOPS. . 



By CAPT. S. a. ASHE. 



Although North Carolina had not been favorable to Seces- 
sion at an early stage of the troubles between the N'orth and 
South, yet when the fight came on, her contributions to the 
Southern Cause were more important than those of any other 
State. Alone of all her sister States, she made importations 
of supplies from abroad that were of great consequence. 
During the Kevolutionary War, she had employed a Board of 
Officers to collect and export produce and to import neces- 
saries and munitions; and in 1861, history repeated itself, 
and she early made a large appropriation to purchase supplies 
abroad, and later under Gov. Vance's administration, she 
bought a fast vessel and imported large quantites of mill sup- 
plies, 60,000 pairs of hand cards, 10,000 grain scythes, shoes 
and leather for shoes equal to 250,000 pairs, 50,000 blankets, 
grey woolen cloth for 250,000 uniforms, 12,000 overcoats, 
$50,000 gold value of medicines and many other supplies. 
As the shoes, blankets and clothing were- more than sufficient 
for the use of her own troops, large quantites of them were 
turned over to the Confederate Government for the troops 
of other States. The wisdom of the Xorth Carolina states- 
men made them provident for the supply of the Army; and 
in like manner, their spirit and zeal led them to cooperate 
with the Confederate Government in the enforcement of the 
conscript act to an extent beyond what obtained elsewhere. 
In no other State was the conscript act enforced so thoroughl;^ 
as in North Carolina, the State authorities aiding in its en- 
forcement. 

The contribution of the State in soldiers was indeed re- 
markable, and in losses she suffered much more than any 
other State. 

Major-General R. C. Gatlin, who had been a distinguished 
officer of the U. S. Afrmy, while Adjutant General of the 
State of North Carolina, on May 16, 1864, reported "that 



74 Kecord of North Carolina Troops. 

"up to the 31st of March, 1864, North Carolina had furnish-" 
"ed troops as follows: 

"Transferred to the Confederate States according to 

the original rolls (August 20, 1862), 64,436 

Estimated number of recruits that have volunteered 
in the different companies' service, since the date 
of the original rolls 20,608 

Number of conscripts sent to the army 14,460 

Number of troops in the service of the State not 

transferred, 2,903 

Making an aggregate of 102,607 

These troops have been organized as follows : 

Regiments of Artillery 3 

Regiments of Cavalry 6 

Regiments of Infantry 60 

Total number of Regiments 69 

Battalions of Artillery 4 

Battalions of Cavalry 4 

Battalions of Infantry 3 

Total number of Battalions 11 

Unattached Companies, infantry 6" 

"There is one Company from this State in the 10th Vir- 
ginia Cavalry, five in the 7th Confederate Cavalry, four in 
the 62nd Georgia Regiment, and one in the 61st Virginia 
Infantry." That was March, 1864, 

On July 7, 1863, the General Assembly of North Carolina 
passed an Act to organize the Guard for Home Defence, to be 
composed of all persons between the ages of 18 and 50, not 
actually in the service of the Confederate States, These were 
enrolled and organized into companies, and regiments, and 
those across the Blue Ridge into a Brigade and John W. Mc- 
Elroy was appointed a Brigadier-General, and assigned to 
the command with head quarters at Burnsville. 

The number of Home Guard enrolled was 28,098 ; but a 
large number of them were cripples, infirm and decrepit, and 
unfit to perform military duty. Boards of Examiners were 



Number and Losses of N. C. Troops. 75 

appointed to pass on all claims of exemption on account of 
physical disability; but before that work was completed, the 
Confederate law putting all persons between the ages of 17 
and 50 into the Confederate service was passed and that 
largely reduced the Home Guard organizations. But the 
Home Guard under General McElroy was early called out 
and was in active service ; and the Home Guard of the East- 
ern Counties were later organized into a brigade under Gen- 
eral CoUett Leventhorpe, and the Home Guard of other 
counties were also in active service. 

Governor Vance in his address at White Sulphur Springs 
in 1875 after a careful examination of the records of the Ad- 
jutant General's office, stated the North Carolina troops in 
the war as follows : 

"Volunteers at the outset 64,636 

Volunteers subsequently received 21,608 

Troops in unattached companies in Regiments of 

other States 3,103 

Regular troops in States's service 3,203 

Conscripts sent to the front 18,585 

Senior Reserves 5,686 

Junior Reserves 4,217 

Home Guard 3,962 



125,000'* 



And these figures are as correct as it is possible to make 
them. 

The Senior and Junior Reserves were organized into Regi- 
ments and were trained troops and were incorporated into 
the Army and were therefore to be numbered with the Regu- 
lar forces of the Confederacy. 

The figures for the Confederate Army, now accepted, were 
estimated by Dr. Joseph Jones and were approved by General 
Cooper, the Adjutant General of the Confederacy. (See 
p. 287, 7th Vol., Southern Historical Society papers). "The 
available Confederate force capable of active service in the 
field did not during the entire war exceed 600,000 men ; and 



76 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

of this number not more than 400,000 were enrolled at any 
•one time." 

However, at page 500, Vol. 12, Confederate Military His- 
tory, the total number borne on the Confederate Muster Roll 
on January 1st, 1864, is stated at 472,781; but these figures 
include the absent as well as the present, the prisoners in 
Northern prisons and the sick at home as well as all absent 
without leave. Indeed it is estimated that not more than 
200,000 Confederate soldiers ever were present in the Camps 
and ready for battle at any one time. 

The entire Military population of the eleven seceded States 
was 1,064,193 ; and that of North Carolina was 115,369, 
being one ninth of the whole. 

Military population embraces all white males between the 
ages of 18 and 45 without regard to any physical or mental 
infirmity or religious scruples ; and making some allowance 
for these exemptions, the Military population of North Caro- 
lina would be diminshed by several thousand. 

Taking the entire enrollment of Confederate Troops at 
600,000 and North Carolina's contribution at 125,000, it ap- 
pears that slie furnished something more than one fifth of all 
the soldiers who were enrolled l^eneath the flag of the Confed- 
eracy, although her military population was only one ninth 
of the whole. 

Of those ])resent for duty, it would seem that North Caro- 
lina had a much larger proportion than Avould have natural- 
ly fallen to her lot. Tt was the policy founded in wisdom 
to keep her regiments full and effective and not to multiply 
her organizations. We find that the enrollment of some 
of her regiments aggregated 1800; as some were killed or 
died, new men replaced them and the organizations were thus 
maintained effective until towards the very end of the war. 

There were altogether 529 Regiments and 85 Battalions of 
infantry in the Confederate service, and enough of the other 
branches of the service to make the entire force equivalent to 
764 regiments of 10 companies each. (Colonel Fox's Regi- 
mental Losses, page 553). Of these organizations, Virginia 
had somewhat more than one tenth and North Carolina some- 
what less than one tenth. How full North Carolina kept 
her regiments relatively is demonstrated by the fact that with 
less than one tenth of the organizations, she furnished one 



Number and Losses of N. C. Troops. 77 

fifth of the soldiers. It is apparent that relatively her organ- 
izations were kept fuller than those of other States. 

And the same conclusion must be reached when we consider 
the losses in battle. The valor of the Confederate troops 
from the different States was much the same. The fortunes 
of the battlefield brought heavy losses to regiments from every 
State without much discrimination. Evidently then, losses 
on the battlefield measurably indicate the numbers engaged 
from the different States. 

Of the Confederate losses on the battlefield and died from 
wounds, North Carolina's proportion was more than 25 per 
cent. The entire Confederate loss was 74,524, and that of 
North Carolina was 19,673, which was more than one fourth. 
(Fox's Regimental Losses, page 554). It would seem there- 
fore that on the basis of losses, one fourth of all the troops 
engaged in the battles of the war, were from North Carolina. 

Now turning to the statistics in regard to deaths by disease, 
59,297 are reported to have died of disease, of whom 20,602 
were North Carolinians. (Fox's Regimental Losses, p. 554). 
As her troops were no more liable to disease than those from 
other States, and perhaps not so much so since they were 
better cared for, it would seem from this that her enrollment 
approximated one third of the entire enrollment of the Con- 
federate Army. These indications irresistibly lead to the 
conclusion that North Carolina was constantly represented in 
the field by a much larger number of soldiers present for duty 
than any other State. 

The white population of Virginia was 1,047,299 and her 
military population was 196,587. The entire population, 
black and white, of that part of Virginia subsequently cut off 
was about 400,000, leaving the State of Virginia with a 
larger white population and a larger military population than 
North Carolina. 

The white enlistments in the Federal Army for North 
Carolina were 3,146 ; and the white enlistments in the Fed- 
eral Army from West Virginia were 31,872. 

If four tenths of Virginia's white population should be 
assigned to West Virginia, and six tenths to the State of Vir- 
ginia, her military population being six tenths of the entire 
military population according to the census, would be about 
120,000. 

LOFC. 



78 Record of North Carolina Troops. 

While that is larger than the military population of North 
• Carolina, yet the military strength of these States was so 
nearly equal that a comparison can justly be made between 
them to illustrate how fully and nobly North Carolina per- 
formed her duty to the Confederacy. 

The losses attributed to Virginia (See Fox's Regimental 
Losses, p. 55-1:) were killed outright on the battlefield, 5,328, 
and died of wounds, 2,519, a total of 7,847. There is no 
reason why Virginia's losses suffered on the battlefield should 
not have been as accurately reported as those of North Caro- 
lina. North Carolina's losses are reported at 19,673; Vir- 
ginia's at 7,847, from which it appears that North Carolina 
lost on the battlefield more than twice as many soldiers as 
Virginia did. 

The same authority states that Virginia lost 6,947 from 
disease, and North Carolina lost 20,602, nearly three times 
as many. 

The inference is irresistible, that North Carolina contrib- 
uted more men to the Confederate service than Virginia did. 

At page 553, Fox states that North Carolina had 69 regi- 
ments and 4 battalions of infantry; one regiment and five 
battalions of cavalry and 2 battalions of heavy artillery and 
9 battalions of light artillery. As a matter of fact it appears 
that North Carolina furnished 84 regiments, 16 battalions, 
and 13 unattached Companies, besides the companies and 
individuals serving in commands from other States, and 9 
regiments of Home Guards, and the militia rendering short 
terms of duty. Vol. 4, p. 224, Reg. Histories. Virginia is 
credited with 65 regiments and 10 battalions of infantry, 
22 regiments and 11 battalions of cavalry, one regiment of 
partizan rangers, one regiment of artillery and 53 batteries of 
light artillery. But how many of these organizations were 
maintained with their full complement of men ready for 
active duty does not appear. It does appear however that 
North Carolina furnished more than 120,000 soldiers in- 
cluding Home Guard out of a total enrollment of 600,00*0, 
leaving only 480,000 to be apportioned among the other 
States. It also appears that her losses both on the battlefield 
and by disease indicate that her contribution to the Confed- 
erate Army was somewhat more than the proportion of one to 



Number and Losses of N. C. Troops. 79 

five, while her military population stood in proportion of 
one to nine. 

This record is one that every Confederate in North Caro- 
lina can recall with the utmost pride and satisfaction. It 
sustains the claim made in behalf of our people that they 
sent to the war for Southern Independence a greater number 
of soldiers in proportion to population than any other South- 
ern State, and that they suffered the heaviest losses. 

S. A. Ashe. 

Raleigh N. C, 

25 August, 1904. 



T3 



Esse Quam Videri. 



FIVE POINTS 



Record of North Carolina 



GREAT WAR OF 1861-5. 




REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE 



AI'POINTED BY THE 



North Carolir^a Literary aqd Historical 
Society--1904. 



NASU liUOTHERS, 

BOOlv AND COMMERCIAL rurNTRRS, 

GOLDSBORO, N. C. 

1904. 



NORTH CAROLINA REGIMENTAL HISTORIES 



A few copies of tliis work, wLii.-li is a complete history of the North 
Carolina Troops in the great war of 18G1-'C5, in five large octavo volumes 
of over 800 pages each, a total of 4. 100 pages are yet on hand for sala. 

The histories were written and the work edited entirely by participaists 
in the war, without charge for their services ; and the engravings were 
furnished by friends. The State furnished paper, printing and bindinff 
and owns the work, which it is selling at cost. For the above reasons the 
book is being sold at the marvelously lov^- figure of $1 per volume. 

There are over 1,000 fine engravings of officers and private 
soldiers, including all of the 35 Generals from North Carolina. Also 
13 full-page engravings of battles and 3'^ maps. The indexes are 
complete and embrace over 17,000 names. It is a magnificent work, tell- 
ing the story of the tincst soldiery the world has seen. 

The edition is limited. Now sold at $5 for the set or %l per volume. 
When the. edition is exhausted the set will doubtless sell readily at a very 
high price. Persons purchasing the books must pay express or postage. 
Express within the State on single volume, 25 cents; postage on each 
volume anywhere in United States, 34= cents. The set of 5 volumes 
shipped by express or freight is of course cheaper in proportion than by 
single copy. 

Also, Colonial and [Statk Records at $3 per volume, 20 volumes 
now ready. 

Cash mutt accompany all orders. 

When sent by express or freight, the purchaser can pay charges on the 
receipt of the books; if by mail, the amount for postage must be paid in 
advance. 

Send order and money to 

M. O, SHERRILL, 

State Librarian^ 

Haleiffh, y. C. 

18 October, 1904. 



FIRST AT BETHEL 

FARTHEST TO THE FRONT AT GETTYSBURG 
AND CHICKAMAUGA 

LAST AT APPOMATTOX 



JAgtJS 



